THE  SANDS  OF  FATE 

S IR  THOMAS  BARCLAY  - 


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THIRTY    YEARS:    ANGLO-FRENCH    REMIN- 
ISCENCES. 
LAW  AND  USAGE  OF  WAR. 
THE  TURCO-ITALIAN  WAR. 

PROBLEMS  OF  INTERNATIONAL  PRACTICE 
AND  DIPLOMACY. 

NEW  METHODS  OF  ADJUSTING  INTERNA- 
TIONAL DISPUTES  AND  THE  FUTURE. 


THE   SANDS   OF   FATE 


THE  SANDS  OF  FATE 

Dramatised  Study  of  an 
Imperial  Conscience 

BY 

SIR   THOMAS   BARCLAY 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(Cde  mibetjjitie  ptt^^  Cambcitise 

1917 


(\^ 


COPYRIGHT,  1917,  BY  THOMAS  BARCLAY 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  October  iqif 


PREFACE 

Part  I  and  Part  II  of  the  present  phantasy  ap- 
peared In  August,  1915,  and  March,  1916,  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  and  I  have  to  acknowledge 
the  courtesy  of  the  Editor,  Mr.  Wray  Skilbeck,  in 
allowing  me  to  reproduce  them. 

Of  Part  I,  Dr.  Arthur  Shadwell  wrote  in  the 
January  issue  of  the  same  Review:  — 

There  was  in  the  August  number  of  this  Review  a  brilliant 
sketch,  cast  in  dramatic  form,  which  received  far  less  notice 
than  it  deserved.  It  was  by  Sir  Thomas  Barclay,  and  was 
entitled  "The  Sands  of  Fate  —  Berlin,  July  24-31,  1914: 
A  Historical  Phantasy,"  It  purports  to  give  the  history 
of  the  week  preceding  the  declaration  of  war  in  a  series  of 
scenes  enacted  at  Potsdam  between  the  Kaiser  and  his 
chief  advisers,  and  it  represents  him  vacillating  between 
peace  and  war,  until  the  issue  is  finally  decided  by  the 
crowds  outside  cheering  for  war. 

I  believe  that  this  "historical  phantasy"  represents  with 
singular  felicity  the  interplay  of  the  several  influences 
which  determined  the  fatal  decision  and  their  relative  im- 
portance. A  good  many  writers  about  war  and  peace  and 
Germany  might  study  it  with  advantage.  It  is  undeniable 
that  the  war  chimed  with  popular  sentiment  in  Germany, 
and  has  been  supported  with  general  enthusiasm  and 
devotion. 

This  testimony  of  a  keen  observer  like  Dr.  Shad- 
well  is  so  precious  that  I  venture  to  give  it  as  a 
precursory  gloss. 

After  terminating  the  above,  I  hear  from  Copen- 
hagen that  the  censors  have  forbidden  the  pub- 


VI 


Preface 


licatlon  of  a  translation  of  the  "phantasy"  into 
Danish  which  had  been  made  by  a  distinguished 
Professor  of  the  University. 

A  similar  fate,  a  short  time  ago,  overtook  a 
translation  into  French,  when  it  was  about  to  ap- 
pear at  The  Hague.  The  prohibition  in  the  latter 
case,  I  have  since  been  informed,  was  due  to  the 
action  of  the  German  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 
who  described  it  as  "poisoned  gas"! 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION ix 

PART  I.  THE  SANDS  OF  FATE  .  .  .  i 
PART  II.  MISSING  LINKS  .  .  .  .  83 
PART  III.  IN  GREMIO  DEORUM  .  .  .193 
CHRONOLOGY 237 


INTRODUCTION 

When  the  first  part  of  this  phantasy  appeared  In 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  I  wrote  by  way  of  fore- 
word :  — 

I  call  this  drama  a  "historical  phantasy."  In  Germany- 
it  might  be  called  "Wahrheit  und  Dichtung,"  as  Goethe 
called  his  Memoirs.  But  is  not  the  imaginative  part  of 
history,  as  guessed  by  those  who  knew  the  actors  person- 
ally, possibly  nearer  the  truth  than  "facts"  about  which 
no  two  witnesses  agree? 

In  an  appendix  will,  nevertheless,  be  found  a 
chronology  of  the  undisputed  facts  on  which  it  is 
founded. 

The  incident  of  the  communication  to  the  Kaiser 
of  the  telegram  announcing  the  assassination  of 
Franz  Ferdinand  and  his  wife  was  told  me  by  a 
distinguished  person  who  was  on  board  the  Kaiser's 
yacht  at  the  time  and  caught  the  tube  thrown  by 
the  officer  of  the  motor-boat  which  overtook  the 
yacht  to  deliver  it. 

Some  of  the  Kaiser's  observations  and  reflections 
were  made  to  myself;  others  have  been  repeated  to 
me  by  those  to  whom  they  were  made. 

References  by  different  personages  to  matters 
and  events  not  generally  known,  such  as  Admiral 
von  TIrpItz's  Interest  In  the  working  of  parlia- 
mentary government  In  England  and  the  Profes- 
sor's revelation  respecting  the  Czar's  decision  for 


Introduction 


peace  in  January,  1904,  also  belong  to  my  personal 
repertory. 

Of  the  essential  characters,  only  Von  Etting  and 
the  Grafin  Emma  are  imaginary.  The  others  are 
all  living  persons.  I  knew  most  of  them  in  the  flesh 
and  have  selected  them  to  serve  as  types  of  differ- 
ent tendencies  of  a  civilisation  "on  the  make." 
Herren  Ballin  and  Possehl  are  North-Germans, 
characteristic  of  the  independent  spirit,  common 
sense,  and  commercial  integrity  of  the  merchant 
princes  of  the  ancient  Hanse  towns.  Prince  von 
Billow  represents  the  spirit  of  Jean  Paul  Richter, 
the  famous  German  satirist,  a  spirit  which  "cul- 
ture" has  never  succeeded  in  eradicating.  Herren 
von  Jagow  and  the  imaginary  von  Etting  are  more 
or  less  his  diplomatic  pupils.  Herren  von  Gwinner 
and  von  Helfferich  are  managers  of  the  Deutsche 
Bank;  the  latter  has  been  chosen  by  the  Kaiser  to 
be  Vice-Chancellor.  They  are  sensible,  enterpris- 
ing men.  Both  were  intensely  pro-English  in  their 
sympathies  before  the  War  and  both  sought  to  react 
against  the  currents  of  international  hostility  which 
had  been  threatening  peace  for  the  previous  ten 
years.  Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  is  the  typical 
Prussian  ofHcial,  honest,  pflichtgetreu,  short-sighted, 
and  efficient.  Bernhardi  is  the  cast-iron  Prussian 
soldier,  incapable  of  originality  or  philosophic  de- 
tachment (the  antithesis  of  the  Horatian  Biilow), 
a  collector  of  facts  favourable  to  his  special  thesis, 
indifferent  to  all  considerations  of  generosity,  na- 
tional honour,  or  humanity,  the  man  who  thinks 
war  is  a  Ding  an  sick,  and  the  spokesman  of  the 


Introduction  xi 


many  foolish  Germans  who  fancy  they  are  express- 
ing a  wise  and  unanswerable  truth  when  they  tell 
you  "War  is  war."  Dr.  Liebknecht  and  President 
Kaempf  speak  for  themselves.  Nobody  worked 
harder  than  the  latter  to  avert  the  present  catas- 
trophe. He  represents  the  spirit  of  Neo-Liberalism 
in  the  Empire. 

Then  there  is  the  Kaiser,  who  may  remain  for 
history  the  most  conspicuous  personality  of  con- 
temporary Europe,  who,  after  having  raised  his 
country  to  stupendous  heights  of  prosperity,  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  dragged  into  the  maddest  spec- 
ulation upon  which  a  nation  ever  embarked,  and 
will  remain  responsible  for  all  time  for  not  having 
used  his  power  at  the  critical  moment  to  avert  war. 
I  have  endeavoured  to  portray  him  as  he  was,  or  as 
I  knew  him,  not  as  a  fire-eating,  bloodthirsty  po- 
tentate responsible  for  the  horrors  and  crimes  of  the 
present  War,  but  as  of  impulsive  character,  anxious 
for  knowledge,  impatient  of  resistance  to  his  own 
schemes  of  national  betterment,  impetuous  in  their 
realisation,  not  scholarly  like  his  great  ancestor, 
but  like  him  in  his  interest  in  current  problems  of 
mind  and  matter. 

Lastly,  there  is  the  Kaiserin,  whose  heart  at 
length  revolts,  kind,  religious,  and  above  all  moth- 
erly, practical  in  her  outlook,  and  accessible  to 
facts  which  are  too  near  for  perception  by  those 
whose  eyes  are  focussed  on  the  horizon. 

I  have  frequently  been  asked  to  say  whom  I 
mean  by  the  Professor.  I  have.  It  is  true,  a  good, 
sound,  old-fashioned  German  in  mind,  but  why 


sai  Introduction 


should  I  put  a  name  to  a  character  who  would  be 
lynched  to-morrow  if  he  expressed  a  tithe  of  the 
criticism  I  attribute  to  him. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  this  phantasy  is  not  in- 
tended to  exacerbate  hatred  between  the  belliger- 
ents. The  War  cannot  change  the  geographical  fact 
that  we  are  all  destined,  whatever  the  outcome  of 
the  War,  to  go  on  living  side  by  side  as  before.  Per- 
haps a  future  generation  will  judge  the  present  one 
severely  for  the  silence  or  want  of  courage  of  supe- 
rior minds  at  a  time  when  leadership  was  needed, 
for  the  fact  that  no  statesman  was  ready  to  risk  his 
popularity  and  warn  Europe  against  the  unscrupu- 
lous politicians  and  wire-pullers  who,  on  all  sides, 
were  sowing  the  seeds  of  international  hatred  and 
preparing  the  way  for  the  greatest  breakdown 
of  statesmanship  and  diplomacy  in  the  annals  of 
mankind. 

There  will  be  Germans  among  my  readers.  Let 
them  not  forget  that  English  and  American  states- 
men struggled  in  vain  to  bring  Germany  to  a  sense 
of  the  danger  of  the  excessive  expenditure  on  arma- 
ments into  which  she  was  forcing  her  neighbours, 
that  they  even  humiliated  themselves  before  her  in 
the  hope  of  bringing  her  rulers  to  realise  the  danger 
to  European  peace;  that  she  threatened  to  wreck 
the  Hague  Conference  of  1907  by  withdrawing 
from  it  if  the  question  of  armaments  was  discussed. 
On  the  eve  of  that  conference  I  wrote  in  a  volume 
published  on  the  day  it  began :  ^ 

^  Problems  of  International  Practice  and  Diplomacy.    (Boston 
Book  Company,  1907.) 


Introduction  xiii 

Young  ambitious  nations  in  the  buoyant  venturesome- 
ness  of  youth  may  be  tempted  to  regard  the  more  or  less 
permanent  settlement  of  the  affairs  of  mankind,  in  which 
the  older  nations  are  setting  an  example,  as  contrary  to 
their  interest.  Isolation  of  any  nation,  however,  is  not  only 
an  economic,  but  is  also  a  military,  danger  to  itself  in  the 
presence  of  possible  combinations  of  nations.  Advantages 
for  attack  provoke  a  corresponding  counter-development  of 
the  forces  of  resistance.  A  state  which  declines  to  listen  to 
the  peaceful  overtures  of  its  neighbours,  on  the  ground  that 
it  would  be  quixotic  to  curtail  its  disproportionate  ability 
to  assail  them,  necessarily  soon  finds  itself  obliged,  in  the 
alternative,  to  increase  its  strength  for  the  purposes  of 
possible  defence.  And  thus  competition  in  armaments  and 
combinations  continue  in  response  to  realities  of  self-pres- 
ervation which  can  have  no  end  till  this  insensate  rivalry  is 
checked  by  an  international  agreement. 

The  War  is  the  outcome  of  the  deaf  ear  consist- 
ently turned  by  German  statesmen  to  overtures  of 
which  the  above  passage  reflects  the  underlying 
sense. 

Nor  must  they  dream  that,  because  there  are 
thousands  of  Americans  and  Englishmen  who  have 
retained  their  mental  balance,  there  are  any  who 
think  the  War  can  end  before  Europe  is*emanci- 
pated  from  the  bullying  and  perilous  insolence  of 
the  Prussian  oligarchy,  or,  shut  out  as  they  are 
from  the  outer  world  and  at  present  inaccessible 
to  its  influences,  that  their  military  successes  have 
excited  a  moment's  doubt  among  civilised  mankind 
of  the  ultimate  success  of  their  enemies.  To  on- 
lookers the  War  appears  as  a  struggle  in  which  the 
civilised  world  is  arrayed  against  states  which 
have  made  themselves  notorious  for  the  inhuman 


xiv  Introduction 


conduct  of  their  soldiery.  Turkish  massacres  of  Ar- 
menians, Bulgarian  atrocities  in  the  Balkan  wars, 
the  German  conduct  in  Belgium,  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania,  the  murders  of  Miss  Cavell  and  Captain 
Fryatt,  and  other  gratuitous  horrors  give  a  charac- 
ter to  the  struggle  in  which  anxiety  for  the  success 
of  the  more  humane,  civilised  Western  Allies  is 
universal. 

Why  do  not  the  kind,  peaceable,  hard-working 
German  people,  who  have  made  the  industrial  and 
commercial  prosperity  and  real  power  of  Germany 
which  the  Prussian  military  caste  despised  and  has 
at  length  been  successful  in  crushing,  revolt  at  the 
shame  their  Prussian  leaders  have  brought  upon 
them?  Have  they  been  so  emasculated  by  drill  that 
they  dare  not.^*  Signs  there  are,  it  is  true,  that  the 
scales  are  falling  from  their  eyes.  This  phantasy 
endeavours  to  picture  a  possible  denouement  in 
which  wiser  men  than  those  who  engineered  the 
War  ultimately  procure  the  downfall  of  Germany's 
real  foes  —  the  real  foes  who,  under  the  mask  of 
saving  her,  have  followed  the  example  of  the  Na- 
poleonic dynasty  in  1870  to  save  themselves. 

And  so  history  from  generation  to  generation 
repeats  itself,  and  the  folly  of  man  shifts  its  centre 
from  nation  to  nation  like  the  wind  and  the  storm, 
and  the  least  likely  may,  in  turn,  become  its  vic- 
tims, in  spite  of  every  argument  of  reason,  interest, 
and  national  tradition. 

Before  the  War  there  were  eminent  persons 
both  in  England  and  America  who  feared  that  na- 
tional manliness  and  capacity  for  the  higher  moral 


Introduction  xv 

emotions  would  be  undermined  by  a  long  period 
of  peace.  I  venture,  on  this  subject  and  by  way  of 
conclusion,  to  quote  another  passage  from  my  book 
of  1907:  — 

The  growth  of  democratic  feeling  has  in  no  country 
tended  to  deprive  it  of  its  power  to  feel  the  thrill  of  indig- 
nation, of  its  will  to  assert  its  just  rights  by  material  sacri- 
fice, or  of  its  courage  to  shed  its  blood  for  a  righteous  cause. 
But  there  have  been  wars  neither  righteous  nor  necessary, 
nor  even  useful,  and  democracy  may  become  capable  of 
making  distinctions  for  itself,  for  unquestionably  there  are 
unconscious  workings  of  the  public  mind  which  develop  in 
capacity.  Everybody  whose  business  it  is  or  who  chooses 
to  watch  its  moods  and  evolution  knows  how  it  is  affected 
by  every  breath  of  feeling,  as  a  tree  rustles  to  every  breath 
of  wind,  and  how  a  furious  blast  may  strain  it  to  snapping. 
Still  the  root  of  human  reason  gains  strength  from  every 
gust;  and,  if  Western  peoples  grow  more  peaceful  because 
more  reasonable,  this  can  be  no  parallel  to  the  historic 
cases  of  sybarite  or  subject  peoples  emasculated  by  long 
periods  of  non-responsibility. 

The  present  War  has  exemplified  the  truth  of  this 
anticipation.  The  democracies  of  the  world  have 
now  all  joined  hands  in  the  surrounding,  for  its 
destruction,  of  the  last  stronghold  of  a  system 
which  is  only  different  from  brigandage  in  the 
scale  on  which  it  is  conducted. 


PART  I 

THE  SANDS  OF  FATE 

{BERLIN,  JULT  24-31,  igi4) 


DRAMATIS    PERSONiE 

PART   I 

The  Kaiser. 
The  Kaiserin. 
The  Crown  Prince. 

Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  Imperial  Chancellor, 
Herr  von  Jagow,  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz,  Minister  for  the  N any. 
Herr   Ballin,   General  Manager  of  the  Hamburg- 
Am  erik  a  Steamship  Company. 
The  Professor. 
Grafin  Emma,  lady-in-waiting. 
Herr  von  Etting,  Private  Secretary  to  the  Kaiser. 
First  and  Second  A.D.C. 
A  Spy. 
Attendants. 


PART  I 
THE  SANDS  OF  FATE 

ACT  I 

JULY  24 

The  Kaiserin  seated  at  a  work-table  before  an  open 
window  at  the  Neues-Palais  at  Potsdam — flowers, 
photographs,  silver  trinkets.  Knitting.  Few  moments. 

Enter  Grafin  Emma,  clad  in  black  silk,  who  stands 
respectfully  while  the  Kaiserin,  absorbed  in 
thought,  continues  knitting. 

ICaiserin  {on  perceiving  her) 

What  a  start  you  gave  me,  Emma!  I  wish  you 
would  n't  steal  into  the  room  like  that. 

Grafin  Emma 
Shall  I  knock  before  entering? 

Kaiserin 
Like  poor  old  Grandmamma's  servants,  no !  Well  ? 

Grafin  Emma 

His  Imperial  Highness  has  arrived  and  asks  if 
Your  Majesty  can  receive  him. 


4  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Kaiserin  {straightening  her  sleeves  and  dress) 

Of  course !  At  once. 

[Exit  Grafin  Emma.  The  Kaiserin  stands 
up,  pulls  a  chair  closer,  adjusts  photographs, 
smells  a  rose.   Steps  heard.  Knock  at  door. 

Come  In. 

Enter  the  Crown  Prince,  who  folds  his  mother  in  his 
arms.  Unbuckles  and  hangs  his  sword  on  a  peg. 

Kaiserin 
My  darling  boy!  Why,  what's  happened? 

Crown  Prince 
Great  things,  mother!  War,  mother! 

Kaiserin 
Good  God,  Willie!  With  whom? 

Crown  Prince 

Everybody,  perhaps,  —  but  war  as  sure  as  there 
is  a  God  In  heaven. 

Kaiserin 
Oh,  no,  no,  no.  We  want  no  more  wars. 

Crown  Prince 

Can't  be  helped.    Sit  down,  mother  dear,  and  I 
will  explain  the  whole  thing  to  you.  , 

Kaiserin 
That's  why  you  came? 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  5 

Crown  Prince 
Yes,  of  course. 

Kaiserin 
Darling  boy!  What  about  your  father? 

Crown  Prince 
Oh,  he'll  know  In  good  time. 

Kaiserin 

Heavens,  Willie.  You  don't  mean  he  knows 
nothing  about  what  you  are  going  to  tell  me? 

Crown  Prince 

Oh,  yes,  he  does,  but  you  know  his  happy-go- 
lucky  way,  always  thinking  things  will  come  out 
right  by  merely  waiting.  People  are  getting  so  im- 
patient about  his  dilly-dallying  —  always  preparing 
for  war,  and  beating  the  drum  and  doing  nothing  — 
that  the  guns  will  go  off  by  themselves,  and  the 
wrong  way,  and  then  exeunt  the  Hohenzollerns. 

Kaiserin 

I  know  your  father  has  too  many  irons  in  the  iire, 
and  he  won't  listen  to  anybody  but  that  awful 
Professor  and  his  Jew  friends. 

Crown  Prince 

It's  very  trying. 

Kaiserin 

Yes,  but  we  must  just  put  up  with  what  God  has 
given  us. 


The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 


Crown  Prince 

He'll  be  awfully  wild.  There  he  is  with  some  forty 
men-of-war  boring  himself  and  all  his  staif  at  Bal- 
holmen  with  peasant  regattas,  lunching  with  every 
Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry,  making  iield-marshals  stand 
about  in  idleness,  while  that  awful  band  makes  you 
deaf.^  Says  it's  a  good  thing  for  their  nerves  to  have 
nothing  to  do  or  think  about  for  a  few  weeks  1 

Kaiserin 

Don't  talk  disrespectfully  of  your  father  like  that, 
Willie. 

Crown  Prince 

I  can't  help  it.  You  know  it,  too,  mother.  It's 
exasperating,  this  dilettante  optimism  of  father's. 
He  forgets  that  I  have  to  succeed  him.  ...  To  think 
that  I  have  never  been  able  to  have  a  serious  con- 
versation with  him  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 
I  can't  allow  you  ... 

Crown  Prince 

Sorry.  But  things  are  too  serious,  and  he  is  n't 
serious  enough.  {Rising  and  walking  up  and  down 
angrily.)  A  nice  mess  we  are  in!  After  all  the  ex- 
pense and  effort!  We'll  be  out  of  it  now,  thanks  to 
never-mind-whom.  Well,  this  is  what  I  came  to  tell 
you,  mother. 

Kaiserin  {leaning  back  to  listen) 
Go  on,  dear. 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  7 

Crown  Prince 

You  won't  interrupt  me,  will  you,  mother,  because 
I  feel  anxious  and  irritable,  and  I  can't  help  men- 
tioning father  with  irritation?  After  all,  children  are 
only  what  their  parents  make  them,  and  if  I  am 
disrespectful  I  am  only  just  as  he  was  himself  be- 
fore me.  [  The  Kaiserin  frowns. 

All  right,  dearest  mother!  you,  at  any  rate,  are  a 
good  sound  German.  There  is  no  English  dilettan- 
teism  about  you,  thank  God ! 

Kaiserin  {laughing) 

Why,  my  darling,  your  cousins  say  you  are  the 
most  English  of  the  family. 

Crown  Prince  {testily) 

Thanks !  Please  let  us  be  serious  .  .  .  {A  pause.) 
You  know  Germany  is  the  laughing-stock  of  the 
world.  Everybody  is  a  laughing-stock  who  gallops  his 
horse  to  the  edge  of  the  ditch  and  then  wheels 
round.  That's  what  we  have  been  doing  ever  since 
father  came  to  the  throne. 

Kaiserin 
But  he  has  kept  the  peace,  dear. 

Crown  Prince 

But  at  what  price?  The  ridicule  and  contempt  of 
everybody ! 

[The  Kaiserin  gives  an  incredulous  look. 

Yes,  mother,  the  contempt  of  the  whole  world. 
Every  twopenny-halfpenny  little  State  thinks  it  can 


8  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

smack  Germany  in  the  face  with  impunity.  And  as 
for  the  Great  Powers,  look  at  this  meeting  at  Peters- 
burg, the  contemptuous  way  in  which  the  French 
have  walked  round  Germany  to  go  there,  as  if 
we  were  a  sleeping  dog.  It  makes  my  blood  boil. 
Father  has  no  sense  of  dignity  or  he  would  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 
My  darling,  you  forget  yourself. 

Crown  Prince 
Then  look  at  Italy.  Even  our  ally  snaps  her  finger 
at  us,  takes  the  best  slices  of  Africa  without  even 
consulting  us,  while  we  have  to  go  hat-in-hand  to 
get  any  dirty  swamp  any  other  Power  is  kind  enough 
not  to  want.  Look  at  the  way  England  puts  her  foot 
down  and  dictates  to  us.  We  can't  get  a  coaling- 
station,  because  she  puts  her  foot  down.  We  can't 
get  a  railway  completed,  though  it  is  built  with 
German  capital  in  an  independent  country,  because 
England  puts  her  foot  down.  France  takes  a  huge 
quarter  of  the  best  that  Africa  can  offer,  and  we  are 
not  allowed  to  have  even  an  inch  of  it,  though  we 
have  more  important  interests  there  than  France. 
Why.f*  Because  England  puts  her  foot  down.  It 
makes  me  boil.  Yet  father  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 
Do  leave  your  father  out  of  it. 

Crown  Prince 
I  can't,  mother.    I  feel  it  too  strongly  .  .  .  Well, 
we  are  sick  of  it.  We  are  sick  of  this  constant  hu- 
miliation. 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate 


Kaiserin 


We! 


Crown  Prince 

Yes,  the  whole  German  people  is  sick  of  it,  and  it 
is  coming  to  this :  either  father  must  move  with  his 
subjects  or  his  subjects  will  move  without  him. 

Kaiserin 
Wliat  do  you  mean? 

Crown  Prince 

I  mean  father  is  becoming  thoroughly  unpopular 
{unbeliebt). 

Kaiserin 

Why  don't  you  tell  your  father  this  ? 

Crown  Prince 

It's  no  use.  He  takes  nothing  seriously.  I  know 
what  he  would  say:  "My  dear  boy"  —  he  forgets  I 
am  a  man  and  a  father  —  "my  dear  boy,  I  have 
pledged  my  life  to  the  prosperity  and  peace  of  Ger- 
many. For  what  you  do  after  me  you  will  be  respon- 
sible. Meanwhile,  let  me  attend  to  my  job  my  own 
way."  I  don't  think  that  fair  to  me,  and  it  is  not 
serious.  Father  is  too  pleasure-loving  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 

My  dear  boy,  how  mistaken  you  are  about  your 
father!  You  may  say  he  is  frivolous  —  he  is  so 
dreadfully  English,  just  like  his  poor  mother  — 


lo  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

always  fussing  about  this  and  that.  Yet  she  did  get 
things  done,  and  so  does  your  father.  How  the  Ber- 
liners  hated  her  for  giving  lessons  in  hygiene  to  the 
German  architects.  Yet  there  you  are.  They  did 
what  she  told  them,  and  Berlin  is  a  model  of  clean- 
liness to  the  world.  You  don't  know  what  an  awful 
place  your  Marmor-palais  was  till  she  took  it  in 
hand.  Your  father  is  just  like  her.  I  dare  say  after 
he's  dead  he'll  be  appreciated.  [Whimpering. 

Crown  Prince  (shortly) 

Perhaps  .  .  .  He's  meanwhile  very,  very  trying. 
Well,  let  me  go  on.  The  Powers  of  the  Entente  are 
preparing  for  war  as  hard  as  they  can.  England  is 
leading  them  on. 

Kaiserin 
England ! 

Crown  Prince 

Yes,  mother,  England  and  France.  Russia  plays 
the  fool's  part. 

Kaiserin 
Don't  believe  that,  Willie. 

Crown  Prince 
I  say  "plays." 

Kaiserin  (takes  up  her  knitting) 
I  see  —  that  may  be. 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  ii 

Crown  Prince 

They  are  all  eaten  up  with  jealousy  —  especially 
England. 

Kaiserin 
Jealousy  of  what,  dear? 

Crown  Prince 
Why,  of  Germany's  prosperity,  of  course. 

Kaiserin 
Well! 

Crown  Prince 

Well,  they  want  to  destroy  her  prosperity.  As 
soon  as  they  are  ready,  they  will  fall  on  her  like  wild 
beasts  and  tear  her  to  pieces  out  of  mere  spite.  We 
can't  wait  for  that.  If  fight  we  must,  we  must  choose 
the  moment  which  suits  us  best  and  not  let  them 
choose  It.  [A  pause. 

Kaiserin 

Well! 

Crown  Prince 
That  moment  Is  now. 

Kaiserin  {standing  up  and  putting  her  hands  on  the 
Crown  Prince's  shoulders  and  looking  into  his 
eyes)  [A  pause. 

My  boy,  you  know  how  dear  you  are  to  me,  my 
first-born.  ...  I  hope  you  are  only  relieving  your 


1 2  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

feelings  in  speaking  to  me  like  this,  merely  confess- 
ing your  inner  self  to  your  loving  mother.  What 
does  your  father  say  to  this? 

Crown  Prince 
He  knows  nothing. 

Kaiserin 
What.?  Your  father  .  .  . 

Crown  Prince 
That's  why  I  am  telling  you,  mother. 

Kaiserin 
Telling  me  what? 

Crown  Prince 
There  will  be  war  before  a  week  is  out. 

Kaiserin  {almost  shrieking) 
What! 

Crown  Prince 

It  can't  be  helped.  What  did  you  think  we  wanted 
the  war  levy  for?  [The  Kaiserin  speechless. 

We  have  just  got  our  siege-guns.  We  are  ready, 
ready,  ready  as  we  have  never  been  before,  and 
everybody  else  is  unprepared.  The  war  will  be  over 
before  Christmas,  and  we  shall  be  supreme  in 
Europe.  Instead  of  being  sneered  at  as  mere  swash- 
bucklers, even  England  will  no  longer  put  her  foot 
down —    Oh!  the  brutes.  You  don't  know  how  I 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  1 3 

hate  England.  We  all  do.  Every  true  German  hates 
England. 

Kaiserin 
Then  your  war  would  be  against  England  ? 

Crown  Prince 

Indeed  It  would.  This  Is  the  plan.  We  shall  be  In 
Paris  before  Russia  Is  mobilised  or  before  England 
has  made  up  her  mind,  and  then  we  smash  up  Eng- 
land, and  that  opens  up  America  to  us. 

I  Kaiserin  (surprised) 
America!  And  the  Americans? 

Crown  Prince 

The  Americans !  Another  of  father's  fads !  As  If 
the  Americans  would  ever  do  anything  for  senti- 
ment's sake!  Besides,  It's  a  mean  sort  of  thing  — 
going  about  seeking  friends  for  Germany.  The  only 
true  friends  are  those  who  are  afraid  to  be  your  ene- 
mies. We  must  have  Brazil,  and  have  it  we  shall. 

Kaiserin 

Why,  dear,  these  are  terrible  things,  and  the 
United  States  your  father  loves  so  much. 

[Rather  scornfully. 

Crown  Prince 

"Much  noise  and  little  wool."  We  shall  soon 
double  them  up  when  England's  power  Is  gone. 

Kaiserin  (in  a  tone  of  humouring  an  angry  man) 
But  what  would  the  war  be  about  .^ 


14  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Crown  Prince 

Oh !  really  nothing  very  particular  —  probably  the 
Austrian  grievance. 

Kaiserin 
The  Austrian  grievance! 

Crown  Prince 

It's  the  same  thing.  We'll  come  In  as  Austria's 
saviour  again.  That's  better  than  having  a  griev- 
ance of  our  own,  and  it  will  appeal  to  German 
sentiment. 

Kaiserin 

Oh,  men,  men!  How  you  all  like  fighting! 

Crown  Prince  {buckling  on  his  sword  again) 

I  wanted  to  tell  you  beforehand,  because  you  have 
a  great  influence  over  father  and  I  hope  you  will  not 
use  it  against  us,  —  I  mean  me,  —  for  this  war  Is 
necessarily  a  war  aflPecting  the  future  more  than  the 
present,  and  the  future  is  my  job.  God  knows  I 
don't  want  to  be  Kaiser.  I  would  far  rather  be  sim- 
ply an  irresponsible  younger  son.  But  I  feel  the 
pride  of  my  race  In  my  veins  and  will  not  follow  the 
example  of  those  mad  Bavarians  and  Austrlans. 
Hohenzollem  to  the  bone,  what  I  am  born  to  do  I 
will  do,  and  do  to  the  full. 

Kaiserin  {gives  him  her  hand,  which  he  kisses) 

But  you  are  mistaken,  darling,  in  fancying  I  have 
any  influence  over  your  father. 


The  Sands  of  Fate  15 


Crown  Prince 

Oh,  you  only  have  to  flatter  him  a  bit.  I  never 
saw  anybody  more  easily  led  by  flattery  than  good 
old  father.  He  is  really  a  good  sort,  but  these  are  no 
times  for  mere  talk.  Germany  can  only  continue  to 
live  among  her  ravenous  neighbours  by  daunting 
them  as  a  lion-tamer  daunts  his  lions,  by  lashing 
them,  by  firing  at  them,  by  killing  them,  if  need  be. 
Au  revoir,  dear  mother.  Don't  tell  father  I  have  seen 
you.  Nobody  knows  but  Emma.  [Exit 

[The  Kaiserin  settles  down  to  her  knitting, 
takes  a  pocket-handkerchief  out  of  her  satchel, 
and  bends  over  it  on  to  her  work-table. 

Enter  Grafin  Emma,  who  makes  a  little  noise 

purposely. 

Kaiserin  {starting) 

Oh !  Emma,  what  a  start  you  gave  me !  I  wish  you 
would  come  in  without  making  such  a  noise. 

Grafin  Emma 
I  will  do  my  best,  Your  Majesty. 

Kaiserin 
Emma,  have  you  heard  this  terrible  news? 

Grafin  Emma 
What  news,  Ma'am  t 

Kaiserin 
Why,  about  the  war. 


1 6  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i- 


Grafin  Emma 
Yes,  Ma'am,  vaguely. 

Kaiserin 
Why  did  you  not  tell  me? 

Grafin  Emma 
I  thought  Your  Majesty  knew. 

Kaiserin 
Knew  what? 

Grafin  Emma 
That  war  is  imminent. 

Kaiserin 

But  I  know  nothing,  dear  Emma.  His  Majesty 
keeps  everything  to  himself.  He  never  tells  me  any- 
thing. It  is  terrible,  Emma.  What  does  anybody 
want  war  for? 

Grafin  Emma 

They  say  It's  a  preventive  war.  I  don't  know 
exactly  what's  meant  by  a  preventive  war.  I  sup- 
pose a  sort  of  smaller  war  to  prevent  a  greater  one. 

Kaiserin 

That's  like  inoculation,  Emma.  The  doctors  give 
you  a  light  attack  of  smallpox  to  prevent  you  getting 
a  worse  one. 

Grafin  Emma 
Perhaps  that's  what  is  meant. 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  17 

Kaiserin 
Nonsense! 

Grafin"  Emma 
Your  Majesty  knows  better  than  I  do.  ' 

Kaiserin 

They  might  just  as  well  put  up  persons  to  commit 
small  crimes  to  prevent  greater  crimes.  It's  utterly 
silly.  I  hope  you  don't  listen  to  such  stuff,  Emma, 
and  much  less  repeat  it.  Who  told  you^ 

Grafin  Emma 
It's  common  talk  since  the  ultimatum  to  Serbia. 

Kaiserin 
What  has  the  Serbian  affair  to  do  with  Germany? 

Grafin  Emma 

They  say  the  Serbian  affair  is  the  mere  pretext, 
and  it's  a  godsend  which  enables  us  to  bring  on  the 
war  at  once. 

Kaiserin 
But  what  war,  Emma.? 

Grafin  Emma 

I  hope  Your  Majesty  will  forgive  my  not  being 
able  to  give  her  a  very  clear  account  of  the  matter. 
England,  France,  and  Russia  have  entered  into  a 
treaty  to  deliver  an  ultimatum  to  Germany. 


1 8  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Kaiserin 
How  do  you  know,  Emma? 

Grafin  Emma 

I  don't  know,  Your  Majesty.  I  am  only  saying 
what  I  hear. 

Kaiserin 
But  where  did  you  hear  It? 

Grafin  Emma 
It  is  the  common  talk  at  Court. 

Kaiserin 

Do  you  mean  the  Secretaries,  and  A.D.C.'s  and 

Ladies? 

Grafin  Emma 
Yes,  Ma'am,  and  officials  and  nearly  everybody. 

Kaiserin 

And  I  know  nothing  about  It!  Well,  go  on,  Emma, 
about  this  ultimatum. 

Grafin  Emma 

The  ultimatum  is  to  be  about  armaments.  They 
will  call  upon  Germany  to  accept  a  discussion  on  the 
reduction  of  armaments  ... 

Kaiserin 
What  impudence! 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  19 

Grafin  Emma 

And,  if  Germany  refuses,  will  present  a  scheme  for 
their  reduction.  If  she  refuses  to  accept  it,  then  war. 

Kaiserin 
It's  too  absurd,  Emma.  And  who  told  you  this.? 

Grafin  Emma 
It's  common  talk.  Ma'am. 

Kaiserin 
Do  they  say  who  is  at  the  back  of  this  ^ 

Grafin  Emma 

Yes,  England  —  that  is.  Sir  Edward  Grey.  And 
America  and  Italy  are  expected  to  join  them. 

Kaiserin 

Ridiculous.  And  people  believe  it's  true!  Do  you 
believe  it.f* 

Grafin  Emma 
Yes,  Ma'am. 

Kaiserin 
Why,  Emma  ^ 

Grafin  Emma 

I  hope  Your  Majesty  will  pardon  my  expressing 
an  opinion  of  my  own,  but  as  Your  Majesty  requests 
me . . . 


20  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Kaiserin 

Yes,  Emma.  I  ask  you  to  tell  me  frankly  what 
you  think. 

Grafin  Emma 

I  think  it  true,  because  it  seems  very  probable 
that  if  one  country  gets  very  powerful  and  makes 
other  countries  spend  more  money  than  they  can 
afford,  they  should  combine  against  it. 

Kaiserin 

But  Germany  threatens  nobody,  and  His  Majesty 
is  a  man  of  peace. 

Grafin  Emma 

But  His  Majesty  won't  listen  to  dictation,  and, 
least  of  all,  about  the  army  and  navy. 

Kaiserin 

Of  course  not,  Emma.  But  why  is  England  doing 
this? 

Grafin  Ejvima 

England,  they  say,  is  in  such  terror  about  our 
splendid  navy  that  many  people  have  actually 
gone  mad  and  write  quite  insane  things  in  the  news- 
papers about  it. 

Kaiserin 
What  are  they  afraid  oit 

Grafin  Emma  ' 

That  we  should  attack  them,  destroy  their  navy, 
I  suppose. 


I.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  21 

Kaiserin" 
Well,  now  about  the  supposed-to-be-coming  war. 

Grafin  Emma 
We  are  not  going  to  wait  till  they're  ready. 

Kaiserin 

So  that's  what  they  mean  by  a  preventive  war. 
Emma,  it's  very  dreadful. 

Enter  Lady-in-Waiting 

Lady  {handing  a  large  envelope) 

His  Majesty  has  sent  a  special  despatch  to  you, 
Ma'am.  Herr  von  Etting  sends  it  to  Your  Majesty 
with  his  profound  respect. 

ICaiserin 

Thank  you.  {Exit  Lady.)  {Opening  despatch  and 
reading.)  His  Majesty  has  left  Norway  and  will  be 
here  to-morrow.  Emma,  you  must  be  right.  He 
would  never  have  come  back  after  just  arriving,  if 
there  had  not  been  something  terrible  to  bring  him 
back.  Don't  mention  to  anybody  that  His  Imperial 
Highness  has  been  here.  His  Majesty  might  put  a 
wrong  construction  on  his  visit,  just  at  this  time. 
{Stands  up.)  I  am  getting  too  fat,  Emma.  When 
His  Majesty  is  away,  I  don't  take  enough  exercise. 
Come  and  take  a  look  at  the  roses.  Nature  is  so 
beautiful  just  now  and  bids  us  all  to  tenderness  and 
love.         [Speaking  as  they  disappear  into  a  verandah. 

curtain 


ACT  II 

SCENE  I 
JULY  27 

The  Kaiser's  working  study  in  the  Neues-Palais  at 
Potsdam.  Pictures  of  Emperors  William  the  First  and 
Frederick,  the  Empress  Frederick,  Queen  Victoria,  etc., 
and  photographs  scattered  over  the  desk  and  gueridons. 
Desk  and  furniture  Louis  the  Fifteenth.  Telephone, 
panel  of  call-buttons. 

Doors  are  flung  open  and  Voisr  Etting,  a  young  and 
elegantly  cladman,  enters  hurriedly  with  a  despatch-box, 
and  places  it  on  the  desk,  looks  at  the  quills  and  ink, 
tries  a  quill,  and  takes  a  general  survey. 

Telephone  rings.  Von  Etting  sits  down  at  the  desk 
and  puts  the  receiver  to  his  ear. 

Von  Etting 

No,  not  yet,  Highness.  Yes,  Highness,  certainly. 
{Pause)  But  we  have  had  no  communication  yet. 
I  will  ring  him  up  and  let  you  know  at  once. 

[Replaces  receiver  and  presses  a  button.  Ring. 

Takes  up  receiver  again. 

Excellency  von  Etting  speaking.    {Pause)    His 

Imperial  Highness  the  Crown  Prince  wishes  to  know 

at  once  if  you  have  news  of  His  Majesty's  train. 

Passed  Stendhal  t  Many  thanks. 

[In  frantic  haste,  presses  another  button,  and 
puts  receiver  to  his  ear. 
Yes!  Von  Etting  speaking.  His  Majesty's  train 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  23 

has  passed  Stendhal.  Passed  full  steam  up.  Yes, 
Highness;  yes,  Highness;  yes,  Highness.  Round- 
about way,  but  it 's  easier  to  clear  the  line. 

[Pause    and    a   laugh,    puts    down   receiver. 
Presses  button,  takes  it  up  again. 
His  Majesty  has  passed  Stendhal.   (Pause)  Yes. 
(Receiver  is  replaced.) 

[A  low  horn  is  heard  sounded  from  different 
sides,  tramp  of  soldiers  and  lowering  of 
arms,  short  beating  of  a  drum  outside.  Door 
flung  open.  Two  A.D.C.^s  enter,  and  salute 
Von  Etting  and  shake  hands.  All  three  look 
grave  and  concerned. 

First  A.D.C. 
Looks  serious  this  time,  eh  ? 

VoN  Etting 
Very. 

Second  A.D.C. 
High  time  it  did. 

First  A.D.C. 
A  beastly  nuisance,  all  the  same. 

Second  A.D.C. 
Trenches  instead  of  wenches. 

First  A.D.C. 

Oh,  shut  up!  There'll  be  no  trenches,  no  time  to 
make  'em.  We  shall  just  dash  through  everything. 
It  will  all  be  over  in  a  month. 


24  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Second  A.D.C. 

No,  my  son,  you  err  like  every  swain  on  the  brink 
of  matrimony.  There  will  be  no  war  or  a  long  'un. 
Is  it  war,  Etting? 

[VoN  Etting,  sitting  on  edge  of  desk  gives  an 
affirmative  nod. 

First  A.D.C. 

We  could  have  been  told  that  just  as  well  at 
Berlin,  instead  of  making  us  come  down  to  this  hole. 

I  hate  Potsdam. 

Second  A.D.C. 

I  sympathise  with  you,  my  son. 

[First  A.D.C.  shakes  his  head  knowingly  to 
VoN  Etting.  Gives  a  shrug  to  signify  aban- 
donment of  all  hope  to  make  Second  A.D.C. 
take  things  seriously. 

VoN  Etting 
You  fellows  had  better  be  off. 

Both: 
There's  plenty  of  time. 

First  A.D.C. 

I  say,  Etting,  why  is  he  coming  here  instead  of 
going  to  Berlin? 

VoN  Etting 
I  don't  know. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  25 

First  A.D.C. 
It's  odd  all  the  same. 

Von  Etting 

Off  you  go.  The  Admirars  announced. 

Enter  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  and  the  Professor 

[A.D.C.'s  salute  —  exeunt. 

Von  Etting 

His  Majesty  has  passed  Stendhal.  He  will  not  be 
here  for  a  few  minutes  anyhow,  if  you  care  to  sit 
here.  '  [Exit. 

Von  Tirpitz 

I  understand  perfectly,  Professor,  but  His  Ma- 
jesty knows  nothing  about  history,  and  like  all  men 
of  action  thinks  he  makes  it.  It  only  irritates  him  to 
hear  history  spoken  of  as  if  his  actions  were  de- 
termined for  him  by  circumstances  over  which  he 
has  no  control. 

Professor 

To  say  that  anything  which  happens  is  any  Indi- 
vidual's fault  is  mere  pedantry,  so  far  as  history  is 
concerned. 

Von  Tirpitz 

You  must  admit  that  the  Russian  mobilisation 
was  ordered  by  somebody.'* 

Professor 

I  admit  it  was  ordered  by  somebody,  but  why  was 
it  ordered  by  somebody? 


26  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Von  Tirpitz 

I  suppose  in  Russia  nobody  knows  who  orders 
anything. 

Professor 

That's  true.  In  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  nobody 
has  yet  been  found  to  bear  the  blame  for  an  order  of 
the  Czar,  countersigned  by  his  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  and  accepting  the  Japanese  conditions,  never 
having  reached  its  destination.  [Pause. 

VoN  Tirpitz 

We  can't  go  on  eternally  living  on  the  brink  of 
a  volcano  as  we  have  been  doing  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Professor 

Yet  for  countless  ages  the  Campanlan  peasants 
grew  their  vineyards  to  the  very  top  of  Mount  Vesu- 
vius, though  the  top  was  a  flat  surface  on  which 
nothing  would  grow,  and  all  the  time  the  population 
was  warned  of  its  danger  by  rumblings  and  growlings 
within  the  volcanic  cone. 

VoN  Tirpitz 

A  clever  German  engineer,  I  suppose,  would  have 
canalised  its  forces. 

Professor 

Yes,  and  burst  the  cone,  and  that's  just  what  our 
clever  political  engineers  are  doing  now. 

Von  Tirpitz 
Well,  we  don't  know  the  result  yet. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  27 

Professor 

Nor  do  we  know  whether  clever  Roman  engineers 
were  not  responsible  for  bursting  the  cone  in  a.d.  79. 

VoN  TiRPITZ 

It  had  to  come,  Professor. 

Professor 

Everything  that  has  happened  in  history  has  had 
to  come.  Nations  have  lives  of  diiferent  lengths 
like  individuals.  All  may  have  their  day,  with 
patience  and  perseverance.  To  force  the  pace  is 
pure  and  simple  speculation.  And  a  war  between 
the  Entente  and  the  Alliance  Powers  is  staking  all 
upon  a  single  card. 

VON"  TiRPITZ 

England  won't  budge.  If  you  had  been  at  Kiel 
and  heard  the  friendly  speeches  of  the  naval  com- 
manders a  fortnight  ago,  you  would  have  been 
satisfied  that  England  had  given  up  her  distrust  of 
our  navy.  She  did  not  at  first  realise  that  her  com- 
mand of  the  sea  could  be  disputed.  She  is  yielding 
to  facts  as  she  always  does.  That's  what  we  lack, 
Professor.  Our  progress  and  prosperity,  instead  of 
curing  us  of  dreaming,  has  only  confirmed  us  in  the 
habit.  I  have  sent  all  my  children  to  England  to 
learn  to  see  facts  and  face  them  instead  of  dream- 
ing about  them. 

Professor 
The  German  people  are  patriotic  and  genuinely 


28  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

ready  for  all  sacrifices  for  the  welfare  of  the  nation, 
but  they  still  lack  the  sense  of  national  responsi- 
bility. 

Von*  Tirpitz 

That's  it.  In  other  words,  we  have  not  yet  had 
time  to  digest  the  empire.  German  pride  of  Ger- 
many is  merely  skin-deep.  When  every  German 
feels  the  empire  belongs  to  him  and  that  he  is  per- 
sonally responsible  for  its  acts  and  being  {We sen), 
then  facts  will  have  their  full  significance  for  him. 

Professor 

War  will  only  awaken  that  sense  of  responsi- 
bility if  Germany  is  defeated.  Victory  will  merely 
confirm  the  German  in  his  trust  in  authority  and 
dreams. 

Von  Tirpitz 

Some  years  ago  I  thought  we  might  borrow  from 
England  some  sort  of  Ministerial  responsibility, 
and  got  our  Naval  Attache  there  at  the  time  to 
send  me  over  a  report  on  the  connexion  of  Parlia- 
ment with  the  Admiralty,  but  I  found  it  was  just 
this  department  that  is  most  independent  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

Professor 

Foreign  affairs,  too. 

Von  Tirpitz 

When  you  think  of  It,  that  is  strange  for  a  free 
country.  But  in  the  case  of  the  Admiralty  the  sys- 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  29 

tern  is  entirely  bureaucratic.  So  there  was  nothing 
to  borrow  for  my  department. 

Professor 

And  as  regards  foreign  affairs  we  have  gone  far- 
ther than  England  in  the  democratisation  of  the 
service  already. 

Von  Tirpitz 

Well,  I  took  the  liberty  of  suggesting  to  His 
Majesty  that  a  trial  might  be  made  with  the  new 
department  of  the  colonies,  and  it  was  tried,  but 
the  worst  of  a  bureaucracy  is  that  its  very  efficiency 
blocks  reform. 

Enter  Ballin 

Ballin 

How  are  you.  Admiral?  {Shaking  hands)  And 
you,  my  dear  Professor?   {Shaking  hands.) 

Professor 
So,  so!  Ballin. 

Ballin 
This  Is  damnation  work. 

Professor 
It  could  n't  be  helped. 

Ballin 

Could  n't  be  helped  ?  Do  you  know  it  spells 
ruin  for  the  whole  of  North  Germany? 


30  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Professor 

Many  things  that  could  n't  be  helped  have  spelt 
ruin  to  nations  before  this. 

Ballin 

Well? 

Professor 

Governments  get  credit  for  a  great  deal  more 
power  than  they  possess.  Even  our  dear  Kaiser 
has  only  the  power  over  the  rudder  which  the  ma- 
chinery gives  him.  The  slightest  derangement  of 
the  machinery  and  it  won't  work.  The  Czar  is  the 
mere  rudder  himself,  with  a  Court  rabble  squab- 
bling at  the  helm. 

Ballin 
And  Divine  right? 

Professor 

A  shibboleth  and  a  very  good  one  with  an  unde-      | 
veloped  agricultural  population,  like  the  East  Prus- 
sians. 

Ballin  {impatiently) 

If  the  Government  is  not  to  blame,  who  is?  The 
Kaiser  himself? 

Professor 
No,  neither  the  Kaiser  nor  his  Government. 

Ballin 

The  army? 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  3^ 

Professor 

The  army  has  no  power  in  the  matter  at  all.  .  . . 
{A  pause.)  It  is  the  German  people  itself. 

Ballin 

Then  it's  the  accursed  teaching  in  your  universi- 
ties is  to  blame,  your  schools  ... 

Professor 

Not  to  blame,  but  one  of  the  causes,  among  which 
are  your  accursed  business  methods. 

Ballin 

There  you  are  right,  Professor.  The  curse  of  Ger- 
man business  is  ruthlessness.  I  admit  it  because  I 
have  to  fight  it  every  day  of  my  life.  {Angrily) 
Every  other  business  German  is  a  bandit  who  .  .  . 

[Talking, 

Professor 

All  pioneers  are  more  or  less  bandits,  and  German 
business  is  still  in  a  pioneer  stage.  The  English  who 
founded  their  Colonial  Empire  were  all  bandits. 
The  founders  of  Rome  were  bandits.  Even  in  mod- 
ern Europe,  what  was  Napoleon  but  a  bandit  with 
instincts  of  the  worst  type  of  banditism.^^  What 
was  the  French  Revolution  but  a  successful  banditti 
raid  ? 

Ballin 

Yes,  I  suppose  you  are  right,  and  that  is  why  ♦ 
German  business  is  so  unpopular.   Of  course,  there 
is.  jealousy.  ^ 

*  The  speaker,  of  course,  refers  to  Napoleon's  Corsican  origin. 


32  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Professor 
Rather. 

Ballin 
Even  Professors  suffer  from  that  little  failing. 

Professor 
Who  does  not? 

Ballin 
Even  statesmen. 

Professor 
Even  kings! 

Ballin 
Even  emperors! 

Professor 
Even  whole  peoples. 

Von  Tirpitz  (wAo  has  been  listening  with  an  amused 

look) 

I  must  go  to  the  station  to  meet  His  Majesty. 
Au  revoir.  [Exit. 

Ballin 

I  noticed  that  in  America.  In  fact,  I  .  .  . 

Professor 

You  need  not  cross  the  Atlantic  to  see  national 
jealousy.  The  whole  English  people,  from  the  rab- 
ble in  the  streets  to  the  most  learned  and  cultivated 
class,  are  brazenly  jealous  of  Germany. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  33 

Ballin 

I  can't  say  I  have  noticed  it  among  the  English  I 
have  had  to  deal  with  in  business.  Big  concerns  can 
emulate  each  other  without  being  jealous.. 

Professor 

Yes,  it  is  just  like  class  diseases.  The  same  thing 
works  out  in  the  high-liver  as  gout,  in  the  underfed 
as  rheumatism.  Among  your  upper  commercial 
classes  you  call  it  emulation  —  among  us,  the  rabble, 
the  commoner  term  for  it  is  jealousy. 

Ballin 
Oh!  Professor  —  rabble!  [Laughs. 

Professor 

Yes,  we  live  with  the  rabble,  among  the  rab- 
ble. ... 

Ballin 
And  teach  the  rabble. 

Professor 
No  doubt. 

Ballin 

And  if  the  rabble  thinks  wrongly,  it  is  due  to  your 
wrong  teaching. 

Professor 
I  don't  say  no. 


34  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Ballin 

Then  if  this  accursed  war  is  due  to  a  state  of  the 
pubHc  mind,  the  original  cause  is  your  teaching. 

Professor 
My  dear  wife  's  English. 

Ballin 

That  accounts  .  .  . 

Professor 

It  accounts  for  nothing,  except  perhaps  a  better 
insight  into  English  character  and  a  greater  appreci- 
ation of  its  defects.  I  do  not  like  the  English.  They 
are  superficial,  supercilious,  mentally  slipshod. 

Ballin 

Do  you  know,  Professor,  I  have  often  thought 
we  Germans  suffer  from  too  much  brains. 

Professor 

Still,  we  are  not  psychologists,  Ballin.  Men  of 
science  never  are.  All  the  jokes  regarding  want 
of  knowledge  of  human  character  are  about  men 
of  science. 

Ballin  {laughing) 
And  Herren  Professors !  ' 

Professor 

Yes.  you  are  right.  All  the  befooling  stories  are 
about  absent-minded  professors.  But  what  I  mean 


II.] 


The  Sands  of  Fate  35 

is  that  the  concentration  of  our  attention  on  the 
physical  side  of  Ufe  in  education  and  in  practice  has 
atrophied  our  power  to  perceive  the  influence  of 
human  character  in  connexion  with  facts. 

Ballin 
You  mean  .  .  . 

Professor 

I  mean,  for  instance,  that  a  man  like  Lichnow- 
sky,  though  he  is  not  a  man  of  science  but  is  the 
type  of  our  intellectual  product,  is  devoid  of  the 
faculty  of  presenting  his  facts  with  the  subtleties 
that  give  them  their  value  at  any  given  moment. 

Ballin 
I  am  sorry,  Professor.  I  still  don't  see  your  point. 

Professor 

Well,  I  '11  put  it  another  way.  Mathematics  are 
pure  reason.  There  is  no  human  soul  in  mathe- 
matics at  all.  Two  and  tw^o  can  never  make  any- 
thing but  four.  The  fact  is  final.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  most  intricate  of  calculations.  Well,  we  Ger- 
mans have  a  tendency  to  regard  all  facts  more  or 
less  as  mathematical  expressions.  Lichnowsky,  for 
instance,  re'ports  a  fact.  He  does  n't  realise  that 
that  fact  is  like  a  stone  in  the  wilderness,  that  it  is 
grown  over  with  all  kinds  of  moss  and  lichen,  and 
that  it  is  a  swarming  township  of  insects  and  mi- 
crobes and  what  not.  Like  the  specialist  that  he 
is,  and  we  are  taught  to  be,  he  wipes  all  this  super- 


36  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

growth  off  his  fact  to  get  it  clean  and  clear.  But 
that  is  just  the  thing  he  ought  not  to  do.  In  the 
political  and  social  life  of  peoples  it  is  just  the  co- 
incidence of  these  parasitical  growths  that  deter- 
mines action. 

Ballin 

That's  what  you  mean  when  you  say  we  are  not 
psychologists. 

Professor 

And  that  accounts  for  the  errors  and  misjudg- 
ments  of  our  diplomatists  and  politicians. 

Ballin 

It  is  a  delicate  question,  Professor,  but  I  suppose 
you  except  His  Majesty.f" 

Professor 

Yes,  he  is  the  genuine  dilettante  and,  strange 
as  it  seems  to  our  native  Kultur,  practically  all  the 
greatest  progress  of  art  and  science  has  been  due  to 
dilettantes. 

Ballin 

It  is  most  interesting.  Professor,  you  are  the 
most  interesting  man  I  have  ever  met.  No  wonder 
the  Kaiser  loves  you.  (Pause.)  Now,  what  do  you 
think  of  English  "Kultur"? 

Professor 

I  should  ask  you  that  and,  in  fact,  I  should  like 
to  know. 


11.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  37 

Ballin 
God,  I  only  wish  we  had  more  of  It ! 

Professor 

Is  that  your  serious  opinion  ?  Yet  it  is  frightfully 
unsympathetic.  The  English  are  not  naturally  a 
kind-hearted  people. 

Ballin 

That's  where  Germans  go  wrong,  I  have  had  a 
great  deal  to  do  with  the  English  and  have  always 
found  them  the  most  honourable,  most  generous, 
and  least  gullible  people  in  the  world.  I  hate  gulli- 
ble people,  Professor.  In  business  they  cause  more 
mischief  than  thieves.  They  are  such  a  tempta- 
tion. .  .  . 

Professor 

Well  done,  Ballin !  That 's  splendid !  {Laughing.) 
Tempt  you  from  the  path  of  righteousness  ? 

Ballin  {a  little  testily) 

I  am  not  speaking  of  myself.  ...  I  mean  a  temp- 
tation to  the  fools  and  knaves  who  take  advantage 
of  them.  The  English,  my  dear  Professor,  are  only 
at  the  beginning  of  a  great  career.  We  have  shot 
ahead  of  them  for  the  time  being,  but,  if  you  went 
to  Canada,  you  would  see  things  to  astonish  you. 
There  is  a  country  which  is  a  continent  in  itself. 
In  a  hundred  years  it  will  be  the  centre  of  the  Brit- 
ish race.  England  may  dwindle  into  insignificance 
alongside  it,  but  what  does  that  matter.'*    It  will 


38  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

always  remain  the  "home"  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
They  are  the  greatest  people  in  the  world.  We  are 
not  a  match  for  them  yet,  Professor. 

Professor 
Yet  Rome  was  the  greatest  people  in  the  world. 

Ballin 
How  long? 

Professor 
Some  seven  hundred  years.  [Laughing. 

Ballin 
That'll  outlive  you  and  me  anyhow! 

Professor 

The  English  at  any  rate,  meanwhile,  have  an 
advantage  over  us  in  their  intellectual  shortage. 
Development  is  more  natural  and  easy  when  it  is 
not  complicated  by  brains. 

Ballin  (with  a  look  of  illumination) 

Is  that  why  the  English  prefer  to  promote  infe- 
rior men  to  their  higher  posts? 

Professor 
And  we? 

Ballin 
B.  .  . 

Professor 

No  names,  please. 


II 


.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  39 


Ballin 
Do  you  consider  Levy  clever? 

Professor  , 
I  don't  know  him. 

Ballin 

Odd,  Is  n't  It,  to  place  the  grandson  of  a  Frankfort 
Jew  in  a  post  like  that? 

[The  Professor  looks  surprised. 

Oh!  I  have  no  Illusions  about  the  Jews.  Besides, 
I  am  half  Polish.  Our  name  was  originally  Balinsky, 
just  as  Radolln's  was  Radollnsky. 

Professor  (reflectively) 

It's  curious  what  a  number  of  clever  men  Poland 
has  supplied  to  the  Empire.  (Ballin  salutes.)  We 
ought  to  annex  Poland  as  an  intellectual  investment. 

Ballin 

Like  the  Baltic  provinces  to  Russia.  (Professor 
salutes.)  We  ought  to  annex  them  too. 

Professor 

I  think  we've  caught  the  contagion,  too,  Ballin. 
The  fact  Is  we  have  been  playing  with  the  fire  too 
long,  and  you  can't  play  with  the  fire  without  risk. 
Germany  has  been  goaded  into  the  Idea  that  all  her 
neighbours  are  jealous  of  her  and  that  they  are  all 
conspiring  against  her  and  are  watching  for  the 
moment  of  her  weakness  to  fall  upon  and  destroy 
her.  It  is  not  true,  but  It  was  necessary  as  a  factor 


40  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

in  constructive  German  policy.  It  was  only  by  per- 
suading the  Germans  that  war  against  them  by 
jealous  neighbours  was  imminent  that  they  could  be 
roused  to  the  necessary  sacrifices.  It  has  given  us  an 
army,  a  navy,  and  at  the  same  time  patriotism;  and 
without  patriotism  a  nation  is  without  backbone. 
But  it  has  created  a  vast  national  error.  We  have 
taught  them  to  obey  and  to  believe,  and  obediently 
they  have  believed  what  they  had  to  be  told,  and 
now  we  have  to  pay  for  the  deception  practised  on 
them. 

Enter  Von  Etting  hurriedly. 

Von  Etting 

Gentlemen,  I  must  ask  you  to  retire  Into  the 
next  room.  His  Imperial  Highness  is  coming  up. 
[Exeunt  Ballin  and  the  Professor. 

Enter  the  Crown  Prince  hurriedly. 

Crown  Prince 
What  did  His  Majesty  say.? 

VoN  Etting 
Gave  no  explanation. 

Crown  Prince  {lighting  a  cigarette) 

I  wonder  if  he  has  sent  for  the  Chancellor. 

[VoN  Etting  lifts  the  receiver. 

Crown  Prince  {stops  him) 
No,  don't  ask.  Any  news  of  Uncle  Henry? 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  41 

Von  Etting 
Yes,  a  telegram  to  His  Majesty. 

Crown  Prince 

One  of  the  peacemakers!  I  wonder  he  does  n't 
become  an  Englishman  like  Battenberg.  All  that 
slobber  at  Kiel  last  month  made  me  sick.  It  had  to 
come,  Etting,  and  if  it  does  not  come  off  now,  God 
help  us !  Bethmann  's  another  of  the  peace  gang. 
Jagow,  Zimmerman,  Stumm,  all  of  'em  "Little 
Germans."  I  'm  glad  I  got  Bernstorff  packed  off  to 
Washington.  He's  another. 

VoN  Etting 
His  wife  's  English .? 

Crown  Prince 
No,  American;  almost  as  bad.     [Telephone  ring. 

Von  Etting 
For  Your  Highness. 

Crown  Prince  {at  telephone) 

Hurry  up.  {Listens)  At  the  Castle.  {Lowers  his 
voice.)  Can  you  hear  me.''  {Turning  to  Von  Et- 
ting.) Would  you  mind  leaving  the  room  for  a 
moment,  Etting.?  So  sorry.        [Exit  Von  Etting. 

His  Majesty  changed  his  mind  as  usual  on  the 
way  from  Kiel.  ...  I  don't  like  it  either.  Telegram 
from  Uncle  Henry.  I  don't  know  what  he  advises. 
Nor  Lichnowsky  either.    All  dead  against  us  at 


42  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

the  Wilhelmstrasse.  Every  hour  counts  now. 
Tschirschky?  What!  Berch told  weakening!  Great 
God,  I  'm  coming  round  at  once ! 

[Snatches   up   his   helmet   and   rushes   out. 

Hooting  of  car. 
[Liveried  attendant  looks  in  from  other  door; 
stealthily  goes  to  desk,  and,  facing  the  door, 
touches  one  of  the  buttons  several  times. 
Moves  away.  Ring. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

Von"  Etting  {sharply) 
What  do  you  want? 

Attendant 

Heard  a  ring,  Sir. 

[Exit,  VoN  Etting  staring  suspiciously  at  him 
as  he  goes. 

VoN  Etting  {at  telephone) 

Who's  there?  I  don't  know.  Ask  at  the  palace. 
I'm  not  the  door-keeper. 

[Puts  down  receiver  angrily. 

[Motor-horn,  drum,  noise  of  presenting  arms. 

[Voices  approaching.  Doors  thrown  open  and 

the  Kjviser  enters,  followed  by  the  A.  D.  C.'s. 

The  Kjiiser  shakes  hands  with  Von  Etting. 

Kaiser 
Where  is  the  Chancellor? 


11.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  43 

Von  Etting 

His    Imperial   Highness    wishes    to    see   Your 
Majesty  first. 

KLaiser  {irritatedly) 

I  want  the  Chancellor  at  once.  Here,  give  me  the 
telephone. 

[VoN  Etting  presses  button  and  hands  receiver. 

Kaiser  {putting  back  receiver) 

{To  First  A.D.C.)  Tell  the  Crown  Prince  I  will 
see  him  In  a  few  minutes.  [Exit  A.D.C. 

{To  Von  Etting.)  Ask  the  Chancellor  In. 

[Exit  Von  Etting. 
[Footsteps  outside.    Door  half  opened.     The 
Crown  Prince  puts  his  head  in. 

Crown  Prince 
May  I  come  In  ? 

Kaiser 
I  am  expecting  the  Chancellor. 

Crown  Prince 
Can't  I  see  you  first? 

Kaiser 
No,  my  boy,  you  can't. 

Crown  Prince  {at  door  still) 

Oh,  here's  mother! 

[The  Crown  Prince's  head  disappears. 


44  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Enter  the  KIaiserin. 

[The  Kaiser  goes  forward  and  kisses  her 
hand. 

Kaiserin  {simpering) 
I  can't  bear  this,  Willie. 

Kaiser 
What  can't  you  bear? 

Kaiserin 
The  boy  is  devoted  to  you. 

Kaiser 

I  am  sorry.  You  must  go.   I  hear  the  Chancel- 
lor's tread. 

Enter  Von  Etting  and  the  Chancellor.  The 
Kaiserin  gives  faint  salutation  to  the  Chan- 
cellor. The  Kaiser  shakes  hands  gravely  with 
him, 

[Exit  the  Kaiserin. 
Well,  Bethmann,  for  first-class  bungling  you 
deserve  the  prize  of  honour. 

Chancellor 
I  admit  it  frankly,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

Well,  that  clears  the  ground  a  bit.    How  do 
things  stand  now? 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  45 

Chancellor 

Telegram  yesterday  from  Petersburg  that  Rus- 
sia will  mobilise  on  Austrian  frontier,  if  Austrian 
troops  move  into  Servia. 

Kaiser 
What  have  you  replied? 

Chancellor 

That  I  trusted  she  would  not,  as  I  feared  we 
could  not  regard  war  between  Russia  and  Austria 
with  indifference. 

Kaiser 
Where  is  Jagow? 

Chancellor 
In  his  room. 

Kaiser  {touching  button  and  putting  receiver 

to  his  ear) 

Is  that  you,  Jagow?  Bring  all  the  correspond- 
ence here  at  once. 

[Puts  receiver  down.  Pause  during  which  the 
Kaiser  walks  up  and  down  in  evident 
agitation. 
Do  you  realise  what  this  damned  thing  means  ? 

Chancellor 
Yes,  it  is  terrible. 


46  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 


Kaiser 

Then  why,  man,  have  you  let  It  come  to  this? 
What  has  that  idiot  Tschirschky  been  doing?  {The 
Chancellor  not  answering.)  Don't  you  hear  me? 
{The  Chancellor  looks  at  him  steadily.)  God! 
you  don't  mean  to  say  he  has  done  this  ? 

Chancellor 
He  is  not  alone  in  it. 

Kaiser 
I  always  distrusted  that  man. 

Chancellor 
There  are  others,  Majesty. 

Kaiser 

A  conspiracy.   {Laughs  bitterly.)  A  conspiracy  — 

a  conspiracy  —  say,  man,  the  word,  a  conspiracy. 

[Chancellor  again  says  nothing,  but  again 

looks  steadily  at  the  Kaiser. 

Leave  me  alone.  Wait  for  me  in  Etting's  room. 

[Exit  the  Chancellor. 

[Walks  up  and  down   the  room  muttering, 

''Blind  idiot  that  I  have  been.""   Sits  down 

to  write  something,  tears  up  the  paper.  Ring 

at  telephone;  takes  up  receiver. 

No,  I  can't;  not  yet. 

A.D.C. 

Excellency  von  Jagow,  Sir. 


11.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  47 

Enter  VoN  Jagow 

Kaiser 
Have  they  mobilised  yet? 

Von  Jagow 

No,  Sir. 

Kaiser 
Nothing  new  to-night? 

Von  Jagow 
Not  at  Foreign  Office. 

Kaiser 
Out  with  It,  man,  quick. 

Von  Jagow 

The   War   Office   have   moved   forces   to   the 
frontiers. 

Kaiser 
Well,  that 's  right  In  case  of  danger. 

Von  Jagow 
Yes,  but  It  has  excited  the  public. 

Kaiser 
Do  you  mean  you  think  my  people  want  a  war? 

Von  Jagow 
I  think  the  Staff  count  on  it. 


4^  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiser 

The  conspiracy.  Jagow,  you  are  a  sensible  fel- 
low. Tell  me.  Do  you  think  my  people  want  a 
war? 

Von  Jagow 

I  think  many  of  Your  Majesty's  subjects  do. 

Kaiser 

That's  it.  Germans  have  forgotten  what  war 
means.  They  have  grown  rich.  Everybody  is 
prosperous  and  happy.  Germany  is  the  best  regu- 
lated community  in  the  world.  She  is  at  the  head 
of  everything.  She  is  sick  of  prosperity  and  wants 
misfortune  for  a  change.   Is  that  what  you  mean.'* 

VoN  Jagow 

No,  Sir.  I  do  not  think  that.  But  I  fear  the 
public  believes  the  whole  world  will  go  on  its  knees 
the  moment  Germany  raises  her  voice. 

Kaiser 

Well,  let  us  see  the  despatches.  {Reads.)  Do  you 
think  Grey  genuine  .f* 

VoN  Jagow 

I  think  so.  Englishmen,  however,  are  hardly 
ever  themselves. 

Kaiser 

Why,  Jagow  {smiling),  that's  rank  philosophy. 
Explain ! 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  49 

Von  Jagow 

I  mean  that  an  English  Ambassador  is  always 
interpreting  instructions  of  his  chief,  and  his  chief 
those  of  the  Cabinet;  and  the  Cabinet  is  always 
thinking  of  Parliament,  and  Parliament  of  the 
electors ;  and  behind  them  all  are  a  lot  of  irrespon- 
sible, clever,  and  some  unscrupulous  interesses,  who 
influence  decisions. 

Kaiser 

Very  well  reasoned,  Jagow.  That  might  apply  to 
all  the  Ministers  but  Grey.  The  Foreign  Office  is 
quite  independent  of  Parliament  and  does  what  it 
likes.  I  know  Grey.  He  means  well  and  can't  want 
war.  You  look  incredulous,  Jagow!  No  diplomacy 
can  want  war. 

Von  Jagow 
Yes,  obviously. 

Kaiser 

The  Chancellor 's  in  Etting's  room.  I  have  several 

men  to  see.    I'll  see  you  together  later.    Send  no 

more  despatches  for  the  present.    I  want  a  few 

hours'  reflection.  [Exit  VoN  Jagow. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

Show  in  the  Professor. 

Enter  the  Professor. 
Have  you  been  waiting  long? 


50  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Professor 
No,  Sir,  about  an  hour. 

Kaiser 

They  hate  you.  Professor.  I  shall  have  to  en- 
noble you.  [Laughs. 

Professor 
God  forbid! 

Kaiser  (hurt) 
Why? 

Professor 

Your  Majesty  has  done  me  enough  honour  by 
having  confidence  in  my  sincerity.  I  wish  to  retain 
Your  Majesty's  confidence  by  its  disinterestedness. 

Kaiser 

Quite  right.  No  unworthy  honours  will  be  in- 
flicted on  you.  Though  I  should  like  to  have  the 
right  to  ask  you  to  lunch  with  men  instead  of  gov- 
ernesses.   (Silence.)   You  know  war  is  imminent.'* 

Professor 
I  knew. 

Kaiser  (in  astonishment) 
You  knew? 

Professor 

Yes,  Sir.  War  has  been  coming  for  some  time. 
Your  Majesty  has  the  self-command  not  to  see  the 
obvious. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  51 

KAISER 

My  God,  Professor,  I  like  you  well!  Call  me 
names  next.  Call  me  a  blasted  idiot,  call  me  a 
bloody  fool  {getting  angrier  at  every  epithet)  —  a 
vainglorious  simpleton.  No,  Professor,  don't  call 
me  that.  Call  m.e  any  damned  thing  you  like  and 
go  to  Hell  yourself.  [Purple  with  rage. 

[The  Professor  rises,  bows,  and  moves  to 
the  door. 

Stop.  {The  Professor  stops)  Here's  my  hand. 
You  are  the  only  friend  I  have.  Sit  down.  I  wish 
you  could  swear.  Professor.  It  is  what  I  have 
wanted  all  my  life.  Just  a  sensible,  earnest  ad- 
viser, just  a  sort  of  Socrates  like  you  to  .  .  . 

Professor  {with  a  half-suppressed  smile) 

Swear  back? 

Kaiser 

Yes,  damn  it,  yes. 

\fFalks  nervously  up  and  down.  Hands  the 
Professor  a  cigar-box.  The  Professor 
takes  one,  wrapped  in  silver  paper. 

What  do  you  think  of  this  business? 

Professor 
Insanity! 

Kaiser 

With  method  In  it! 

Professor 
None  on  our  side. 


'52  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

EIaiser 

You  mean  we  are  mere  tools  —  fools  and  tools. 

[Laughs  at  his  own  joke. 

Professor  {^ery  serious,  with  a  slight  trace  of  the 

supercilious) 

The  only  country  which  has  nothing  to  gain  by 
war  is  Germany. 

Kaiser 
If  we  get  Rotterdam  and  Riga  out  of  it.^ 

Professor 
Dreams ! 

Kaiser 

How  dreams!  Do  you  mean  we  might  be  de- 
feated } 

Professor 

No,  Sir,  I  don't  mean  that  we  might  not  be  ulti- 
mately successful.  But  history  .  .  . 

Kaiser 

Oh,  history!  {Contemptuously.)  We  make  his- 
tory. 

Professor 

The  mightiest  soldier  can  only  kill  his  enemies. 
It  takes  mightier  men  than  soldiers  to  make  and 
preserve  empires,  and  human  character  is  the  work 
of  ages. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  53 

Kaiser 
"Great  Csesar  fell"! 

Professor 

History  {the  Kaiser  looks  impatient)  has  many 
Instances  of  conquests,  but  the  only  conquests 
which  have  endured  are  those  in  which  the  union 
has  been  one  which  permitted  the  free  play  of  in- 
dividual character.  France  annexed  Alsace  and 
Russia  Poland.  Look  at  the  difference.  Spain 
could  not  hold  Holland,  and  Holland  could  not  hold 
Belgium.  Why.^*  Because  the  only  bonds  that  can 
hold  together  peoples  of  different  race  or  different 
historical  evolution  are  either  a  common  language, 
poetry,  and  literature,  or  a  political  web  so  delicate 
that  it  takes  a  microscope  to  perceive  it,  and  so 
elastic  that  it  distends  with  every  breeze  that  blows. 

Kaiser  {wrapt  in  attention) 
Go  on,  give  me  instances. 

Professor 

The  United  States  are  an  instance  of  the  one,  and 
British  rule  is  an  instance  of  the  other. 

Kaiser 
The  United  States ! 

Professor 

Yes,  Sir,  the  United  States  have  Imposed  a  com- 
mon language  on  all  immigrants  as  a  political 
method. 


54  The  Sands  of  Fate  [ii. 

Kaiser 

Well,  but  Alsace  is  German  and  the  Dutch  are 
Germans.  You  are  wandering,  Professor. 

Professor 

No,  Sir  {testily),  I  am  not  wandering.  The 
Dutch  are  almost  as  little  of  the  same  race  with  the 
Germans  of  to-day  as  the  Prussians  are. 

Kaiser 
My  Prussians  not  Germans! 

Professor 

No,  Sir,  they  are  a  race  apart  in  Europe.  The 
Dutch  have  grown  apart.  They  have  their  own 
literature,  their  own  history,  their  own  political 
development,  their  own  manners,  and  tlieir  own  .  . . 

Kaiser 

Infernal  pride. 

Professor 

Yes,  Sir,  their  own  infernal  pride  and  love  of  in- 
dependence. And  as  for  Alsace,  the  Alsatians  under 
the  mild,  elastic  rule  of  the  French  developed  their 
own  way,  and  they  too,  like  all  peoples  which  are 
left  to  themselves,  have  developed  pride  and  in- 
dependence just  like  the  Dutch.  It  takes  centuries 
of  discipline  to  overcome  the  spirit  of  independence 
when  once  it  has  eaten  into  the  bones  of  a  nation. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  55 

Kaiser 

You  think  we  ought  to  have  let  Alsace,  a  Ger- 
man land,  go  on  agitating  for  reunion  to  France. 

Professor 

No,  Sir.  Pardon  my  repeating.  Soldiers  are  only 
good  for  killing  their  enemies,  and  we  have  tried  to 
govern  Alsace  with  soldiers  and  by  brute  force, 
instead  of  following  better  examples. 

Kaiser 

Well,  you  don't  think  highly  of  the  policy  of  an- 
nexing the  Rhine  Delta?  But  Rotterdam  is  a  Ger- 
man port. 

Professor 

It  is  becoming  German  by  evolution  and  his- 
tory. 

Kaiser 
Oh,  history! 

Professor 

Yes,  Sir.  History  is  but  evolution.  Wars  are 
mere  passing  explosions  of  anger  which  may  arrest 
evolution  temporarily  but  are  incapable  of  promot- 
ing it.   In  antiquity  .  .  . 

Kaiser 

Oh,  antiquity  .  .  . 

Professor 

In  antiquity  all  the  men  were  killed  off  or  sent 
into  slavery.  Children  were  slaughtered. 


56  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiser 

By  the  by,  Professor,  have  you  seen  that  passage 
in  Deuteronomy? 

Professor 

I  know  it,  Sir;  it  only  records  what  was  custom- 
ary in  antiquity.  Children  were  exterminated  and 
the  women  became  the  concubines  of  the  conquer- 
ors.  Conquest  then  produced  permanent  results. 

Kaiser 

You  don't  mean  we  can  only  get  Rotterdam  by 
killing  off  the  Dutch? 

Professor 

No,  Sir.  I  only  say  that  would  be  the  permanent 
alternative  for  peaceful  evolution  in  this  particular 
case.  And  then  you  would  have  to  reckon  with 
England. 

Kaiser 

Oh,  England  bellows  for  a  few  days  and  then 
goes  off  to  golf  for  the  week-end.  I  am  not  very 
frightened  of  England. 

Professor 

With  all  deference  for  Your  Majesty's  view,  and 
Your  Majesty  has  more  knowledge  of  English 
character  .  .  . 

Kaiser 

Half  an  Englishman  myself.  By  the  by.  Pro- 
fessor, I  count  in  English.  Did  you  know  that? 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  S7 

Professor 

I  did  not  know.  Your  Majesty's  mother  was  a 
clever  woman. 

Kaiser 

She  was,  indeed,  Professor.  {Walks  over  to  a  pic- 
ture and  looks  at  it.)  She  was,  indeed.  And  to  think 
that  she  might  still  be  living,  if  science  had  been  a 
little  faster  in  making  its  discoveries.  I  did  not  ap- 
preciate her.  Everything  she  was  blamed  for  ad- 
vocating I  have  helped  to  get.  In  her  I  lost  the  one 
person  I  had  to  listen  to.  My  dear  wife  admires  me 
too  much,  Professor.  I  began  by  being  her  Prince 
Charming,  and  now  I  am  her  earthly  Godhead. 
{The  Professor  looks  very  respectful.)  No,  Pro- 
fessor, I  have  had  no  Egeria. 

Now  Uncle  Bertie  had  friends;  I  have  had  none. 
I  mean  intimate  friends  who  forget  you  are  their 
sovereign.  That  is  the  worst  of  Germany.  Be- 
tween ourselves,  Professor,  Germans  have  no  self- 
restraint.  If  I  made  a  friend  of  a  German,  he  would 
act  like  Falstaff  in  no  time.  That's  where  English- 
men have  an  advantage  over  us.  They  never  take 
liberties  with  each  other,  however  intimate  they 
may  be.  Even  women  in  England  take  no  liber- 
ties. Uncle  Bertie,  now.  .  .  Well,  never  mind.  Go 
on  with  your  history.  Professor.  {Touches  tele- 
phone button.)  England  will  not  move.  She  has  her 
arms  full  of  the  Irish  question. 

Professor 

Perhaps,  Sir,  she  will  only  be  too  glad  to  have  a 
diversion. 


58  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiser 

I  have  thought  of  that  too,  though  LIchnowsky 
reports  that  a  foreign  comphcation  would  pre- 
cipitate a  civil  war.  All  the  troops  are  in  Ireland 
and  can't  be  withdrawn.  Well,  you  say  Peace, 
Professor.  I  am  going  to  see  Ballin  now.  Come 
every  day  to  see  me.  Good-bye. 

[Shakes  hands.  Exit  the  Professor. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 
I  '11  see  Herr  Ballin,  now. 

Von  Etting 
Yes,  Sir.  [Exit. 

Enter  Ballin. 

ELaiser 

Glad  you  were  able  to  get  through  so  quickly. 
All  the  lines  blocked? 

Ballin 
Yes,  Sir,  but  I  motored  from  Hamburg. 

Kaiser 

Well  done!  {A  pause.)  This  Is  bad  business. 
What  do  you  think  of  it? 

Ballin 

It  is  not  for  one  of  Your  Majesty's  humbler 
subjects  .  .  . 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  59 

Kaiser 

Oh,  damn  humility,  Ballin!  Speak  out,  man. 
By  the  by,  have  you  lunched? 

Ballin 

No,  Sir. 

ELaiser 

The  brutes  kept  you  waiting  with  an  empty 
stomach!  {Touches  a  button.)  I'll  have  something 
brought  for  you. 

Enter  Second  A.D.C. 

Order  something  for  Herr  Ballin.    He'll  eat  it 

here.  [Exit  A.D.C. 

Ballin  {looking  at  him  closely),  they  are  all  mad. 

[A  pause. 

Ballin 
Who,  Sir? 

Kaiser 

Never  mind.  You  look  ten  years  older,  Ballin. 
{A  pause.)  Are  we  making  a  mistake? 

Ballin 

Your  Majesty  knows  my  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  Germany's  prosperity. 

Kaiser  {impatiently) 
Yes,  Ballin.  Yes,  Ballin. 


6o  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Ballin  {slowly) 

I  am  not  competent  in  matters  of  higher  pohcy. 
[Doors  thrown  open.   Flunkies  bring  in  tray 
with  food.     Table  pulled  out  from  some- 
where. Exeunt  flunkies.  Ballin  waits. 

Kaiser 

Eat,  man,  eat.  [Ballin  eats. 

You  don't  approve  of  war. 

Ballin 
No,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

It  will  be  over  by  Christmas.    {Silence.)    You 
don't  think  so. 

Ballin 
No,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

Then,  what  the  devil  do  you  think.? 

[The  Kaiser  gets  up  and  walks  up  and  down 

the  room  without  waiting  for  an  answer. 

Stops. 

Ballin,  I  want  you  to  talk  frankly.   {Offers  him  a 

cigar.)  Why  do  they  all  want  war.?  [Ballin  rising. 

Keep  your  seat.  No,  "take  this  one.    {Pointing  to 

a  large  armchair  and  sitting  down  in  another?^   So 

you  think  it's  a  mistake,  do  you?  Why? 

Ballin 
I  may  be  wrong. 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  6i 

ELaiser 

Damn  humility,  Ballin.  There's  nobody  Hsten- 
ing.  Now  the  stomach 's  at  ease,  talk. 

Ballin  {clearing  his  throat) 

War  is  subject  to  the  laws  of  business,  and  in 
business  the  best-laid  ventures  can  fail.  But  for 
Your  Majesty  the  Hamburg-Amerlka  would  not 
have  outlived  many  a  venture.  But  if  Your  Ma- 
jesty's venture  fails,  where 's  the  help  to  come 
from  ? 

Kaiser 

Don't  say  my  venture,  Ballin.  It  is  everybody's 
venture  except  mine.  But  go  on,  why  do  you 
think  it  will  fail.? 

Ballin" 

I  only  say  it  may  fail.  I  don't  think  it  will  fail. 

Kaiser 
Yes,  you  do,  Ballin. 

Ballin 
No,  Sir.  I  only  think  the  stake  is  too  large. 

Kaiser 
Our  all. 

Ballin 

Yes,  it  is  an  act  of  desperation  —  the  thing  a 
business  man  does  when  the  only  alternative  is  to 
blow  his  brains  out. 


62  The  Sands  of  Fate  [ii. 

Kaiser 
But  they  all  want  it. 

Ballin 
Ignorance  and  want  of  imagination! 

Kaiser 

That  may  apply  to  the  mass  of  the  population, 
but  you  can't  call  my  advisers  ignorant. 

Ballin 

Nor  is  that  my  meaning.  Ignorance  and  want 
of  imagination  account  for  the  popularity  of  war. 

Kaiser 
Tell  me  how  It  will  affect  Hamburg. 

Ballin 

That  will  depend  on  who  gets  the  mastery  of  the 
sea.   If  with  our  smaller.  .  . 

Kaiser 
But  superior  ... 

Ballin 

.  .  .  fleet  we  obtain  the  mastery,  Hamburg  will 
rise  to  a  prosperity  never  before  witnessed.  If  not, 
war  will  spell  unqualified  disaster  for  us. 

ICaiser 

Oh,  Ballin,  Ballin,  these  are  terrible  times!  Don't 
go  away.  Go  and  tell  the  Countess  Emma  I  want 


n.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  63 

you  to  stay  overnight.   We'll  take  a  walk  in  the 
park  later.  [Ballin  bows  and  exit. 

Enter  the  Crown  Prince. 
Well,  my  boy,  what  have  you  to  say  to  all  this? 

Crown  Prince 

I  say  there  is  no  alternative.  War  is  inevitable. 
The  whole  country  is  anxious  for  it  and  expects  it. 
We  can't  afford  to  let  it  cool  off.  Ask  anybody  you 
like,  father,  you  will  find  only  one  idea :  War  has 
to  be.  You  don't  suppose  that  Poincare  is  in  Peters- 
burg merely  to  pay  a  call.  He  was  sent  for.  France 
is  simply  Russia's  lackey.  Iswolsky  rules  the  French 
Cabinet.  He  has  only  to  threaten  them  with  the 
Imperial  displeasure  and  down  they  go  on  their 
knees. 

Kaiser 

Yes,  the  French  are  a  degenerate  people. 

Crown  Prince 
They  need  a  master  like  Napoleon. 

Kaiser 

So  do  all  peoples,  my  boy.  But  suppose  England 
joins  them? 

Crown  Prince 

That  she  will  not  do.  She  will  only  protest,  and 
even  that  only  mildly  in  her  usual  virtuous  way, 
and  make  money  out  of  the  war  by  supplying  us 
with  all  we  want  to  crush  her  friends.  She  did  that 


64  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

In  1870.  She  has  always  thriven  on  the  misfortune 
of  others,  and,  when  we  have  crushed  France  and 
Russia,  we  shall  be  able  to  conclude  a  naval  alliance 
with  her  against  America  and  Japan. 

ICaiser 

My  boy,  you  don't  know  England  as  I  do.  I  feel 
like  an  Englishman  and  understand  their  feelings. 
I  am  afraid  England  will  be  dragged  into  war  by 
hatred  and  fear  of  Germany. 

Crown  Prince 

I  think  not.  She  has  enough  on  her  hands  in 
Ulster.  Besides,  the  Consuls'  reports  are  there.  My 
dear  father,  if  you  were  to  read  them  instead  of  .  .  . 
trusting  to  your  intuition  —  I  don't  believe  in  in- 
tuition —  you  would  see  that  Ireland  would  be  in 
flames  the  moment  the  troops  were  withdrawn. 
England  dare  not  move.  Lichnowsky  reports  .  .  . 
[The  Kaiser  looks  angrily  surprised. 

{Misunderstanding  the  Kaiser's  displeasure  at 
his  having  had  access  to  the  Ambassador^ s  des- 
patches.) Yes,  you  may  start,  father.  Lichnowsky 
reports  that  the  guns  may  go  off  in  Ireland  at  any 
moment.  Carson  is  no  mere  actor,  and  every  true 
Irishman  only  longs  for  the  downfall  of  England, 
which  means  freedom  for  Ireland.  England  is  a 
quantite  negligeable. 

ICaiser 

Have  you  thought  that  just  the  opposite  of  what 
you  all  expect  might  result,  and  that  England  may 


n.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  65 


come  in  to  get  rid  of  the  Irish  question  ?  I  know  the 
Irish;  when  fighting  is  to  be  done  the  Irish  fly  to 
arms.  The  EngUsh  may  be  mostly  fools,  insular, 
ignorant,  and  all  that,  but  they  have  just  the  intui- 
tion you  despise.  A  common  enemy,  my  boy,  will 
make  a  united  nation  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

Crown  Prince 

I  know  the  English  people  of  to-day  better  than 
you  do,  father.  You  know  those  of  yesterday,  I 
know  the  English  of  to-day,  the  typical  English 
who  govern  India,  for  instance.  I  have  hunted  with 
them,  caroused  with  them,  and  a  better  sort  I  don't 
know.  If  I  had  my  choice,  I  would  rather  have 
Englishmen  than  any  other  kind  of  men  for  my 
companions.  With  them  I  feel  more  comfortable 
{gemilthlich)  than  with  Germans.  With  Germans  I 
can't  be  familiar  as  I  can  with  Englishmen.  Ger- 
inans  get  so  easily  boisterous  {ausgelassen).  Indi- 
vidually I  like  the  English,  but  they  and  the  Irish 
have  a  racial  antipathy  for  each  other.  Ireland  is 
their  Alsace  and  Poland  combined,  and  it  is  now  or 
never  for  Ulster,  just  as  it  is  now  or  never  for  Home 
Rule.  Lichnowsky  is  quite  confident  that  civil  war 
is  inevitable. 

Kaiser 

Suppose  he  is  right;  have  you  thought  that  a  war 
between  the  Great  Western  Powers  at  the  present 
day  can  only  be  a  life  or  death  struggle,  that  we 
shall  have  to  fling  all  considerations  of  humanity, 
justice,  even  treaty  obligations,  to  the  winds  in  a 


66  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

gigantic  effort  to  annihilate  the  enemy,  that  such 
war  is  not  a  mere  duel,  but  a  death  grapple  in 
which,  just  as  teeth  and  nails  are  used  between  in- 
dividuals, what  is  equivalent  to  them  is  used  be- 
tween nations;  have  you  thought  what  this  may 
mean  for  Germany? 

Crown  Prince 
Yes,  I  have  weighed  all  that. 

Kaiser 

Even  if  we  win,  have  you  thought  of  the  count- 
less families  plunged  into  mourning,  of  the  hatred 
we  shall  stir  up  throughout  the  world,  of  the  curses 
of  whole  nations  ?  Have  you  thought  that  a  mere 
hitch,  the  unforeseen  of  strategy  and  battle,  may 
foil  our  hopes,  that  we  may  find  ourselves  a  year, 
two  years,  three  years  hence,  still  struggling  against 
increasing  odds?  Have  you  considered  the  possi- 
bility of  our  ultimate  failure  ? 

Crown  Prince 
Yes,  I  have  weighed  all  that. 

Kaiser 

Have  you  thought  of  Germany  invaded  by  the 
Cossack,  our  cities  bombarded,  our  unoffending 
citizens  shot  down  in  cold  blood  on  any  pretext 
that  is  handy,  our  villages  and  towns  sacked  and 
burnt,  our  women  and  children  massacred  by 
drunken  fiends? 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  67 

Crown  Prustce 

I  have  weighed  it  all.  We  can  only  win,  father. 
The  French  are  quite  unprepared.  Everybody 
knows  that.  We  shall  reach  Paris  before  .the  Rus- 
sians have  finished  their  mobilisation,  and  we  can 
confidently  leave  England  out  altogether.  What- 
ever you  decide,  don't  you  think,  father,  I  ought  to 
be  consulted  as  future  sovereign? 

Kjviser  (musing  —  pause  —  stands  up  and  puts  his 
hand  on  his  son^s  shoulder) 

Bear  this  in  mind,  my  boy,  that  if  I  win  I  shall 
go  down  to  posterity  with  a  character  as  black  as 
that  of  Attila.  If  I  lose,  you  will  never  reign. 

Crown  Prince 
We  can't  lose.  [Exit  the  Kaiser. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 
It's  all  right,  I  think. 

VoN  Etting 
I  hope  the  fleet 's  safe. 

Crown  Prince 

It  left  Norwegian  waters  yesterday.  It  won't  be 
in  safety  till  to-morrow.  By  Jove!  I  know  what  I 
should  have  done,  had  I  had  command  at  the  Brit- 
ish Admiralty.  I  should  have  sent  a  squadron  to 
cruise  off  the  Skaggerack. 

Von  Etting 
Would  not  that  draw  war.f* 


68  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Crown  Prince 

Not  necessarily.  I  don't  think  Tirpitz  would 
have  let  them  come  out  of  the  fyords. 

Von  Etting 

That  is  just  what  His  Majesty  would  have  liked. 
That  England  does  not  do  anything  so  simple 
shows  she  wants  war. 

Crown  Prince 

I  say  let  her  have  it.  Vive  la  guerre  !  Ta !  Ta ! 

[Exit. 
[VoN   Etting   busy   at   the  desk,  putting 
things  in  order. 

CURTAIN 
SCENE   II 

Same  decor,  but  at  night.  About  thirty-six  hours 
have  elapsed. 

Steps  in  darkness.  A.D.C.  turns  on  light.  The 
Kaiser's  study  revealed.  A  pause.  Von  Etting 
comes  hurriedly  in  with  despatch-box.  Tries  quills. 
Picks  out  of  zvastepaper  basket  the  torn-off  date  of 
calendar  and  replaces  it.  It  is  July  28.  Looks  nerv- 
ous and  angry.  Pause.  Doors  thrown  open  and  the 
Kaiser  enters  rather  boisterously.  Exit  A.D.C. 

Kaiser 

Take  down  a  telegram.  {Walks  up  and  down  hur- 
riedly.) Great  God  in  heaven !  War  —  war!  I  don't 
want  war.   Great  God  in  heaven!   Great  God  in 


II.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  69 

heaven!    {Pause,)    To  His  Imperial  Majesty  the 
Czar  Nicholas. 

Von  Etting 

Your  Majesty  has  not  forgotten  that  Your  Ma- 
jesty has  given  orders  that  nothing  was  to  be  done 
till  after  the  Naval  Council  meeting  to-morrow 
morning,  when  the  Crown  Prince  will  be  back.  I 
hope  Your  Majesty  will  forgive  my  reminding  him 
of  his  orders. 

Kaiser 

Quite  right,  Etting,  but  I  know  what  I  am  about. 
I  may  get  a  reply  by  to-morrow  morning  and  stop 
the  whole  cursed  thing.  Even  if  we  have  little 
chance  of  success,  we  must  make  the  effort. 
Write :  — 

"Heard  with  anxiety,"  better  "with  great 
anxiety,"  "impression  caused  by  Austro-Hun- 
garian  action  against  Serbia."  —  Stop.  — 
"Unscrupulous  agitation  going  on  for  years  in 
Serbia  led  to  revolting  crime  against  Arch- 
duke Franz  Ferdinand." 

No,  that  won't  do  —  he  was  only  the  victim. 
Say  "of  which  the  Archduke  was  the  victim."  He 
was  a  nice  fellow,  Franz  Ferdinand,  Etting.  Quite 
different  from  what  one  would  suppose.  I  could  n't 
realise  it  when  I  heard  it.  I  was  spinning  across 
Kiel  Harbour  when  the  news  came  —  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  race.  I  shoved  the  despatch  Into  my 
pocket  and  forgot  all  about  it  till  close  on  dinner- 


70  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

time,  and  then  I  suddenly  realised  the  horror  of  it 
—  those  two  fine  human  beings  —  he,  an  honest, 
straightforward  man  who  would  have  been  a  true 
friend  of  his  people  and  of  mine,  and  she,  as  sweet 
a  woman  as  ever  trod  this  earth.  It  was  a  devilish 
thing  to  do,  Etting,  —  a  hellish  thing,  Etting. 
Those  Serbians  have  won  all  they  have  by  assas- 
sination, and  assassins  they  remain,  one  and  all.  I 
don't  wonder  at  Franz  Josef  being  infuriate 
against  them.  Yet  under  a  strong  government  they 
might  be  all  the  better  citizens.  Still,  what  a  brutal 
thing  the  assassination  of  their  King  was !  I  '11  refer 
to  that.  [Dictating. 

"The  spirit  which  made  the  Serbians  mur- 
der their  own  King  .  .  .  and  his  consort  still 
dominates  that  country." 

That  will  appeal  to  Nicholas.  Who  was  it  who 
said  the  Russian  constitution  was  a  "despotism 
tempered  by  assassination"?  For  Slavs  it  does  n't 
matter  what  the  form  of  government  is.  They 
would  assassinate  Nicholas  just  the  same,  though 
he  has  given  them  their  Duma.  Just  the  same 
{drawing  out  words).  [Dictating. 

"Doubtless  you  will  agree  with  me  that  both 
of  us  .  .  ." 

Why  us  alone  .^  It  applies  to  sovereigns  generally. 

[Dictating. 

"And  all  other  sovereigns  .  .  .{declaiming) 
have  a  common  interest  to  insist  that  those 


II 


.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  71 


who  are  responsible  for  this  horrible  murder 
shall  suffer  their  deserved  punishment." 

I  had  better  say  something  about  Russian  sym- 
pathy with  the  Serbians.  [Dictating. 

"On  the  other  hand,  I  do  not  undervalue" 
...no,  say  "Overlook":  "Undervalue"  is 
better:  "the  difficulty  you  may  have  in  resist- 
ing the  clamour."  No,  that  won't  do.  "In 
stemming  the  tide" — well,  you'll  adjust 
that  —  "of  —  of  —  of  race  affinity " !  No, 
that  won't  do.  That  seems  to  .  .  .  —  no,  say 
"public  opinion"  ...  I  suppose  there  is  none 
in  Russia.  That'll  flatter  Sazonoff.  I  must  say 
something  about  our  friendship. 

"In  view  of  our  cordial  and  long-standing 
friendship,  I  will  use  all  my  influence  to  in- 
duce Franz  Josef" —  no,  that  won't  do.  It 
is  that  animal  Tisza  who  has  engineered  all 
this  mess.  No,  say  "Austria-Hungary.  .  .  to 
obtain  a  frank  .  .  .  and  .  .  .  satisfactory"  .  .  . 
it  must  be  satisfactory  to  me  .  .  .  "under- 
standing with  Russia."  That  will  do.  No,  wait 
a  moment.  Say :  "  I  hope  confidently  that  you 
will  support  me  in  my  efforts  to  overcome  all 
difficulties  . . .  all  difficulties  .  .  ."  Add  "which 
may  arise." 

"Your  most  sincere  and  devoted  friend  and 
cousin." 

Sign  it  "Willie." 

Now,  get  that  off  as  fast  as  you  can.   It  is  half- 
past  ten.   He  can  read  it  to-night  still.   We  may 


72  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

have  an  answer  before  breakfast.  Fly,  man.  (Von 
Etting  disappearing  into  adjoining  room.)  Etting! 
(Von  Etting  turns  round.)  You  understand:  I 
don't  want  it  ciphered.  I  don't  mind  indiscretions. 

[Pause. 

[VoN   Etting   returns.,    packs  papers   into 

despatch-case,  locks  it,  and  carries  it  away, 

turning  the  light  down  to  a  single  lamp,  on 

which 


curtain 


I 


ACT  III 

JULY  31 

At  Berlin.  The  Kaiser's  study  —  very  like  that 
at  Potsdam.   The  two  A.D.C.'s. 

First  A.D.C. 

It's  all  right.  No  escape  this  time.  We  shall  go 
straight  for  Paris. 

Second  A.D.C. 

It's  funny,  all  the  same.  Little  Willie's  done  it 
—  smart  boy.  Made  his  father  sit  up.  The  old 
chap  ^  was  keen  on  peace,  but  the  young  'un,^ 
Fatty,^  and  Longshanks^  made  him  understand. 
I  believe  the  new  42  ^  was  the  strongest  argument. 

First  A.D.C. 

I  know  nothing  about  artillery.  Is  it  a  Ganz  ^  or 
a  Krupp.? 

Second  A.D.C. 

Both,  I  understand,  but  its  very  existence  is  a 
secret,  so  take  care.^  Germany's  filled  with  Eng- 
lish spies.  That  governess  to  the  young  'un's  kiddies 

^  Der  alte.  ^  Der  kleine. 

8  Nickname  for  Chief  of  the  Staff,  von  Moltke. 
*  Nickname  for  Admiral  von  Tirpitz. 

^  The  new  siege-gun  which  demolished  the  fortifications  of 
Liege  and  Antwerp. 

'  Austrian,  '  Achtung. 


74  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

is  a  spy.  All  these  English  governesses  are  spies. 
They  are  subsidised  by  the  English  Government. 
That's  why  we  get  'em  so  cheap.  They  are  just 
like  Russian  women,  pry  into  everything.  Born 
spies  both.  German  women  are  no  good  for  any- 
thing but  dollars. 

First  A.D.C. 

Shut  up ! 

Second  A.D.C. 

I  know:  delicate  subject  —  all  right,  old  chap. 
Beg  your  pardon.  Too  serious  now.  Look  out. 

[Steps  heard. 

Enter  Von"  Etting  {placing  despatch-box  on  desk, 

trying  quill,  etc.) 

Von  Etting 

You  need  not  wait.  His  Majesty  is  preparing 
a  speech  to  his  people  {slightly  ironical  in  tone). 
He'll  deliver  it  from  the  balcony  in  a  few  minutes. 

[A.D.C. 's  hurry  out. 
[VoN  Etting  throwing  open  the  windows  and 
doors.   Noise  of  crowd  and  cheers  heard 
from  distance. 

Enter  the  Kaiser. 

ELaiser 

It's  splendid,  Etting.  Splendid.  The  hour  of  my 
life:  to  hear  my  people's  voice  thunder  out  its  love 
for  their  Kaiser.   Vox  populi,  vox  Dei.  How  true! 


III.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  75 

The  Kaiserin  enters  and  the  sovereigns  embrace. 

[Distant  cheers. 

Kaiserin  {sobbing) 

It's  terrible  and  yet  so  beautiful,  I  have  just 
seen.  The  whole  Platz  and  streets  are  one  mass  of 
heads,  all  uncovered  as  if  in  God's  house.      [Ring. 

Von  Etting  {taking  up  receiver.  Mumbling) 
Good  God  I 

Kaiser 
What  is  it,  Etting? 

VoN  Etting 

Will  Your  Majesty  take  the  receiver? 

KAISER 

Secret!  {Taking  receiver?)  Has  it  gone?  Two 
hours  ago!  Where  are  you?  Come  at  once.  {Puts 
down  receiver?)  All  right,  Etting. 

[Exit  Von  Etting. 

Kaiserin 
What  is  it,  dear? 

Kaiser 

I  '11  tell  you  afterwards.  I  have  learnt  my  speech. 
It's  quite  short.  I'll  say  it  off  to  you. 

[Distant  noise  of  crowd. 
[Declaiming. 
'A  fateful  hour  has  fallen  upon  Germany. 


« 


7^  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Envious  peoples  on  all  sides  are  driving  us  to 
self-defense. 

"The  sword  has  been  forced  into  our  hands. 
If  my  efforts  at  the  last  hour  are  not  successful 
in  bringing  our  opponents  to  see  aright  and  in 
maintaining  peace,  with  God's  help  the  sword 
shall  not  be  restored  to  its  scabbard  without 
honour. 

"War  will  demand  of  us  enormous  sacrifices 
of  blood  and  treasure  {Gut  und  Blut),  but  we 
shall  show  our  enemies  what  it  means  to  at- 
tack Germany. 

"And  now  I  commend  you  to  God,  Go  to 
your  churches,  and  on  your  knees  before  the 
Almighty  pray  for  His  help  for  our  gallant 
army." 

Kaiserin 
It's  beautiful,  William,  beautiful! 

[Exit  the  Kaiser,  then  the  Kaiserin. 
[Frantic  cheering  heard  in  the  distance.    The 
Kaiser's    voice   heard  from   moment    to 
moment. 

Enter  the  Chancellor,  walks  nervously  up  and 

down.  -  [Pause. 

Enter  the  Kaiser,  looking  pale  and  anxious.  Shakes 
hands  with  the  Chancellor. 

Kaiser 
Too  late,  Bethmann. 

Chancellor 
Surely  not,  Your  Majesty. 


III.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  77 

ICaiser 

Too  late,  Bethmann.  Austria  has  no  right  to 
yield  without  my  consent.  Too  late,  too  late,  too 
late  !  {Thumping  his  desk.)  Oh,  the  cursed  thing. 
It's  all  out  of  hand,  Bethmann.  You  are  a  pack  of 
fools,  Bethmann.  Nicholas  has  shamefully  de- 
ceived me.  Tschirschky  and  the  whole  gang  have 
deceived  me.  Berchtold  is  an  ass.  It's  too  late, 
Bethmann,  to  talk  of  peace  now.  Did  you  see  those 
crowds?  Do  you  suppose  we  can  draw  back  after 
we  have  picked  up  the  glove  in  the  face  of  the  whole 
world  t  God  knows,  I  tried  my  best  to  avoid  war, 
and  if  I  had  done  my  duty  to  my  country  and  the 
world  I  should  have  had  every  one  of  the  gang  shot. 
But  now,  it  is  too  late,  too  late,  too  late ! 

[Sits  and  holds  his  right  hand  over  his  eyes. 

I  wanted  peace,  Bethmann.  Now,  I  want  war. 
The  lion  in  me  is  roused.  When  I  heard  those  shouts 
of  triumph  I  knew  they  were  the  shouts  of  the  na- 
tion behind  them,  the  shouts  of  those  fifty  thou- 
sand cheering  Germans!  The  voice  of  the  nation 
• —  the  cry  of  the  nation  to  their  leader.  There's  no 
longer  an  open  question,  Bethmann.  The  die  was 
cast  when  those  crowds  cheered.  It's  the  Divine 
will  spoken  through  the  tongue  of  the  humble,  I 
must  obey  that  will  —  the  will  of  God  which  tells 
me  that  this  nation  is  destined  to  rule  the  earth. 
Its  armies  are  the  hosts  of  the  chosen  people  of  God. 
Like  the  hosts  at  Leipzig,  they  will  sweep  back  the 
hordes  of  Germany's  enemies.  They  will  assert  her 
right  to  the  first  place  in  the  world.  She  has  earned 
it.    She  shall  have  it,  and  now,  Bethmann,  I  de- 


78  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

cree  a  state  of  war.^  Give  those  Russian  dogs 
twelve  hours  to  demobihse.  Leave  them  no  alter- 
native, nor  Pourtales  ^  either.  Lose  not  an  instant. 
Call  the  Council  together.  Tell  Tirpitz  and  Moltke. 
Put  on  the  gag  of  war.  Let  loose  its  hounds.  God 
Almighty,  why  did  I  hesitate?  I -see  now  it  is  the 
voice  of  Providence,  the  hand  of  God.  My  head 
is  too  hot,  Bethmann.   I  must  go  out. 

[Exit  rather  wildly. 
[Bethmann  stands  irresolute.    The  Profes- 
sor and  Ballin  enter  from  side  door. 

Ballin 

His  Majesty  sent  for  us.  He  seems  to  have  for- 
gotten. 

Chancellor 
I  never  saw  him  in  such  a  state.  It's  war. 

Ballin 

Good  Lord,  deliver  us!  War  w^ith  France  and 
England,  as  well  as  Russia,  perhaps  also  Italy  and 
Japan.   It's  sheer  madness! 

Chancellor 
I  am  afraid  it  is. 

Ballin 

Can  nothing  be  done? 

Chancellor 
His  Majesty  will  listen  to  nothing.    I  wanted 
to  tell  him  about  England. 

1  Kriegsgejahrzustand.      ^  German  Ambassador  at  Petrograd. 


III.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  79 

Professor 
England  will  surely  not  join  our  enemies? 

Chancellor  {uneasily)  . 
Indeed  she  will. 

Professor 

England  has  never  acted  except  according  to  her 
interest.  She  will  fight  us,  if  we  do  anything  she 
thinks  detrimental  to  her  naval  or  colonial  suprem- 
acy. Not  otherwise.  It  will  be  a  mistake  to  touch 
Belgium,  because  Belgian  independence  is  a  factor 
in  her  historic  and  traditional  policy. 

Chancellor 

But  if  we  can't  get  at  France  except  through 
Belgium  ? 

Professor 

Then  you  will  be  right  to  count  England  among 
our  enemies. 

Ballin 
It's  suicide. 

Chancellor 
Too  late,  as  His  Majesty  says. 

Professor 

Che  sard  sard.  It  will  be  a  long  job. 

[Exit  the  Chancellor. 

Ballin 
But  it's  so  idiotic! 


8o  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Professor 

My  dear  man,  you  and  I  know  that.  But  there's 
something  wrong  with  the  world  in  general.  It's 
got  out  of  hand.  Our  leaders  have  not  grown  to  the 
size  necessary  for  the  management  of  enterprises 
so  gigantic. 

Ballin 
And  what  about  our  army  leaders  ? 

Professor 
Probably  the  same.  Poor  old  world ! 

Ballin 

Poor  old  Germany!  She  has  had  a  good  time, 
Professor.  We  may  never  have  another  as  good. 
The  madmen  have  won  {gesiegt). 

Professor 

There  has  always  been  a  strange  fascination 
about  persons  suffering  from  certain  forms  of 
insanity. 

Ballin 
And  epileptics! 

Professor 

Yes,  they  have  always  had  some  charm  about 
them.  I  suppose  Nietzsche  was  one.  At  any  rate, 
he  looked  as  if  he  had  been  one. 


in.]  The  Sands  of  Fate  8i 

Ballin 
His  extravagance,  too! 

Professor 

Well,  just  that  extravagance  has  a  fascination. 
In  antiquity,  madmen  in  that  sense,  just  on  the 
borderline  of  genius,  were  worshipped. 

Ballin 
This  afternoon's  scene! 

Professor 
Yes. 

Ballin  {offering  him  a  cigar) 

Poor  old  Kaiser!  These  are  the  kind  I  imported 
for  him.  I  have  only  a  few  left.  They'll  be  the  last 
for  some  time. 

[Light  their  cigars  in  silence  and  go  out. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

Von  Etting 

At  any  rate,  we  shall  see  no  more  of  these  damned 
civilians  for  a  time. 

[Packing  papers  together  in  despatch-box  in 
a  great  hurry. 

curtain 


PART  II 
MISSING    LINKS 

{BERLIN,  MAT  5-23,  igis) 


DRAMATIS  PERSONiE 

PART   II 

The  Kaiser. 

The  Kaiserin. 

The  Crown  Prince. 

Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  the  Imperial  Chancel- 
lor. 

Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz,  Minister  for  the  Navy. 

Prince  von  Bulow,  Ambassador  to  Italy. 

Herr  von  Jagow,  Minister  for  Foreign  J  fairs. 

General  von  Bernhardi. 

Herr  Ballin,  General  Manager  of  the  Hamburg- 
Amerika  Steamship  Company. 

Dr.  von  Helfferich,  Minister  of  Finance. 

Herr  von  Gwinner,  Manager  of  the  Deutsche-Bank. 

Herr  Possehl,  leading  Lilbeck  merchant. 

Herr  von  Etting,  Private  Secretary  to  the  Kaiser. 

The  Professor. 

Patriotic  Citizen. 

American  Writer. 

Grafin  Emma,  lady-in-waiting. 

Frau  Professorinn  {born  in  England). 

Her  Daughter. 

Old  Man. 

Maid. 


PART  II 
MISSING  LINKS 

ACT  I 

MJY  s,  191 5 

At  the  Professor's  home.  Drawing-room.  Books 
in  abundance.  Engraving  of  Field  Marshal  von 
HiNDENBURG  on  Wall.  Englishwoman'' s  taste  obvious. 
Daughter  with  spectacles  dressed  as  Red-Cross  nurse, 
looking  at  illustrated  papers. 

Enter  Frau  Professorinn. 

Frau  Professorinn 
Why  do  you  look  so  angry,  dear? 

Daughter 

I  think  there's  plenty  of  reason  to  look  angry. 
But  I'd  much  rather  not  speak  of  the  war  at  all, 
mother,  while  I  am  at  home,  seeing  that  we  can't 
possibly  agree.  You  are  English  at  heart,  I  am 
German.  And,  however  much  I  love  you,  mother, 
English  though  you  be,  I  hate  England  and  the 
English  and  everything  English. 

Frau  Professorinn  {taking  up  an  unfinished  sol- 
dier''s  sock  and  knitting) 

It  is  such  an  ugly  thing,  hatred.  You  don't  wish 


86  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

to  punish  the  innocent  with  the  guilty,  do  you, 
darhng? 

Daughter 
They  are  all  guilty. 

Frau  Professorinn 

Guilty  of  what? 

Daughter 

Of  this  whole  war.  And  now  they  are  urging 
Italy,  bringing  her  to  join  them.  Look  at  this. 

[Handing  her  mother  a  paper. 

Frau  Professorinn  {reading) 
But  that  is  only  what  the  newspaper  says.  How 
do  you  know  it  is  true  ? 

Daughter 

It  is  obviously  true  —  Oh,  mother!  {Impa- 
tiently^ I  hate  this  war  —  What  a  time  they  are 
at  dinner!  Oh!  Here  they  are.  [Door  opens. 

Enter  VoN  Tirpitz,  Von  Helfferich,  Von  Gwin- 
ner,  Possehl,  the  Professor,  and  several  lay 
figures.  Only  Von  Tirpitz  in  uniform,  other- 
wise evening  dress.  Shaking  hands  in  turn  with 
mother  and  daughter.  Cofifee,  cigars.  Guests 
falling  into  groups.  Ladies  serving. 

Professor 

But  you  have  only  the  alternatives  of  govern- 
ment by  majority  or  government  by  an  oligarchical 
minority  or  an  autocracy. 


I.]  Missing  Links  87 

Von  Tirpitz 

Pardon  my  temerity,  Professor,  in  venturing  to 
differ  from  so  great  an  authority  as  you,  but  I  think 
there  is  a  fourth.  [The  Professor  surprised. 

There  is  a  mixture  of  all  three,  as  in  England. 

Professor 

But  it  did  n't  work,  Admiral.  That  was  one 
of  the  causes  of  England's  slow  progress  compared 
with  the  progress  of  Germany  and  the  United 
States.  Since  she  made  the  Lords  subordinate  to 
the  Commons  she  has  been  able  to  cover  much  of 
the  ground  lost.  In  the  case  of  Germany  progress 
has  been  due  to  a  benevolent  autocracy,  an  efficient 
bureaucracy,  and  a  docile,  highly  educated  though 
intellectually  starved  majority. 

VoN  Tirpitz  {surprised) 
Highly  educated  and  intellectually  starved! 

Professor 

Yes,  we  have  been  overeducated,  and  overeduca- 
tion  is  like  overfeeding.  Both  produce  forms  of 
starvation.  [VoN  Tirpitz  surprised. 

Yes,  overfeeding  a  physical  organism  has  the 
same  effect  physiologically  as  overworking  it.  It 
starves  from  exhaustion  of  the  power  to  assimilate. 
You  statesmen  ought  to  .  .  .  {Bell  rings. 

That  will  be  Ballin  or  Biilow.  Poor  Ballin's 
physical  organism  generally  has  to  starve  when  the 
Kaiser  sends  for  him. 


88  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Ballin  {walking  in  hastily) 

So  sorry.  His  Majesty  kept  me.  When  I  man- 
aged to  mention  I  was  coming  to  you,  he  sent  me 
off. 

Professor  {emphatically) 

Have  you  fed  ? 

Ballin 

Please  don't  trouble.  I  always  take  a  sandwich 
with  me  to  Imperial  audiences.  Well,  Professor, 
what  do  you  think  of  the  English  now? 

Professor 

I  am  aghast  at  the  skill  with  which  they  get  the 
whole  world  into  line  against  us. 

Ballin 

Get  them  into  line?  It's  because  they  have 
beaten  us. 

Professor 
How  have  they  beaten  us  ? 

Ballin 

Do  you  mean  to  say,  my  dear  Professor,  that  you 
join  in  the  self-satisfied  chorus  of  our  victories? 
Why,  we  are  merely  racing  for  a  place  now.  When 
England  captured  the  sea,  the  race  was  won. 

Von  Tirpitz 

But,  has  she  captured  the  sea?  Our  navy  is 
intact. 


I.]  Missing  Links  89 

Ballin 

Yes,  our  only  hope  was  a  smashing  blow  at  the 
English  naval  power.  We  did  not  risk  it  and  it  is 
now  too  late.  The  odds  have  grown  and  are  grow- 
ing against  us.  Too  late!  Surely,  Admiral,  you 
don't  think  you  have  shaken  British  supremacy 
at  sea  ? 

Von  Tirpitz 

Everything  has  gone  wrong  in  this  accursed  war. 

[Moving  away. 

Ballin 
That  comes  of  wanting  to  be  too  clever.  And  if 
we  don't  hurry  up,  it  will  be  too  late  for  peace  as 
well.  Between  ourselves.  Professor,  all  we  have  won 
has  been  due  to  cheating.  Our  idiotic  diplomacy, 
which  could  not  see  farther  than  the  length  of  its 
own  nose,  has  not  only  misled  us  as  to  probabili- 
ties, but,  with  its  deplorable  want  of  tact  and  under- 
standing for  human  character,  has  given  itself 
away  or  been  found  out,  the  sin  of  sins  in  practical 
life. 

Professor 

But  does  not  that  apply  to  all  diplomacy?  Look 
at  all  these  official  apologies  for  its  breakdown, 
every  one  blaming  the  other  like  a  pack  of  cham- 
ber-maids over  a  broken  slop-pail. 

Ballin 
Worse!    How  could  Bernstorff  and  Dernburg 
think  they  could  work  American  public  opinion  as 
if  Americans  were  well-drilled  Germans  ? 


9°  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Professor 
How  true,  Ballln!  We  are  hopeless. 

Ballin 

That  wily  old  fox  Asquith  saw  our  mistake  at 
once  and  stopped  Kipling  and  Hall  Caine  from  go- 
ing over  to  counter-agitate.  He  knew  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  character.  To  try  and  drill  it  into  any  opin- 
ion produces  just  the  opposite  effect.  The  only 
result  of  the  pro-German  agitation  in  America  has 
been  to  increase  the  irritation  against  Germany. 
The  English  have  been  cleverer.  They  have  held 
their  tongues  and  let  facts  speak  for  themselves. 

Professor 

By  the  b^^,  you  were  rough  on  poor  Tirpltz.  What 
do  you  think  of  his  strategy? 

Ballin 

Too  prudent  at  first  and  too  brutal  afterwards. 
He  has  not  come  up  to  my  expectation.  Of  course 
he  niay  be  accumulating  for  a  final  spring,  but  I  am 
afraid  it  is  too  late. 

Professor 
And  the  submarines? 

Ballin 

In  theory  all  right,  in  practice  degrading.  Our 
marine  officers  feel  the  humiliation  deeply. 

[Glancing  towards  Von  Tirpitz. 

Poor  Tirpitz!  He  looks  awfully  crestfallen.  He 
must  feel  it. 


I.]  Missing  Links  9^ 

Professor 
How  humiliation? 

Ballin 

In  the  Navy,  Professor,  there  is  a  lofty  spirit  of 
gallantry  and  humanity.  It  is  not  so  inherent  to 
the  naval  profession  as  such  as  to  the  mariner  as 
such.  All  our  seamen  in  the  mercantile  service  feel 
it.  There  is  not  a  man  on  my  liners  who  would  not 
risk  his  life  to  save  life.  You  understand  what  I 
mean  now? 

Professor 

Yes!  But  why? 

Ballin 

In  the  sea,  they  all  have  a  common  friend  whom 
they  love  and  a  common  foe  whom  they  dread. 
They  love  and  dread  the  vast,  unending,  mysteri- 
ous ocean,  the  waves  which  can  turn  from  one  hour 
to  another  from  caressing  tenderness  and  fascinat- 
ing smiles  to  scowls  and  lashing  fury  .  .  . 

Professor 

Like  a  beautiful  and  spoilt  woman.  I  did  not 
know  you  as  a  poet,  Ballin.  [Laughing. 

Ballin 

Yes,  every  sailor  is  a  poet.  Contact  with  the 
ocean,  its  glories  and  dangers,  soon  makes  you  one. 
The  sailor's  business  is  to  preserve  and  save  life. 
To  destroy  it  is  as  foreign  to  his  nature  as  it  is  to 


92  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i- 

that  of  a  St.  Bernard  dog.  I  feel  it  myself.  I  loathe 
and  despise  this  destruction  of  life  and  even  of 
property.  To  capture  property  and  appropriate 
it  does  not  diminish  the  world's  stock,  and  leaves  it 
still  available  for  business  exchanges.  To  destroy 
is  the  work  of  the  unconscious  brute. 

Professor 
But  war  changes  human  character. 

Enter  the  American  Writer  and  the  Patriotic 

Citizen. 

American  Writer  {shaking  hands  with  the 
Professor) 

I  am  mighty  glad  to  see  you,  Sir,  and  to  meet 
your  distinguished  company.  [Presentations. 

{To  Herr  von  Helfferich.)  I  hope,  Sir,  you 
have  interesting  news  from  the  front. 

VoN  Helfferich  {abruptly) 

None  at  all. 

[The  American  Writer  attacks  others  in  the 
background.  Group  of  the  Professor, 
Ballin,  Von  Helfferich,  and  Von  Tir- 
PiTZ  in  deep  conference  seated  on  couch  and 
chairs  at  other  extremity. 

Professor 
What  Is  the  use  of  telling  the  public  lies? 

Von  Helfferich 

Use !  Why,  lying  has  been  turned  into  a  weapon. 


I.]  Missing  Links  93 

Professor 
Not  only  by  us,  Helfferich. 

VoN"  Helfferich 

I  mean  by  all  the  belligerents.  I  get  all  the  com- 
muniques and  have  them  pasted  alongside  each 
other  on  large  sheets  of  paper.  You  might  trans- 
pose them  without  changing  anything  essential. 
All  boasting  of  the  same  gains,  all  retaking  trenches 
lost,  and  so  on.  There  is  only  one  fact  that  stands 
out  and  can't  be  denied  even  by  the  cleverest  of  the 
official  liars;  it  is  that  the  war  has  reached  a  dead- 
lock. 

Professor 

But  you'll  not  get  the  German  people  to  under- 
stand that. 

VoN  Helfferich 

Tliat  just  shows  the  danger  of  official  lying  in  a 
country  like  Germany  where  people  have  been  dis- 
ciplined into  believing  everything  they  are  told. 

Professor 

Don't  you  think  people  believe  what  they  want 
to  believe? 

VoN  Helfferich 

Maybe.  But  you  can't  get  away  from  a  patent 
fact. 


94  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Professor 

And  a  patent  fact  Is  that  we  are  in  possession  of 
enemy  territory,  and,  without  suppressing  the  truth, 
it  is  difficult  to  make  people  understand  that's  not 
necessarily  victory.  Thank  God,  anyhow,  we  are 
not  in  the  same  position  as  the  French.  Suppose 
the  French  had  been  able  to  overrun  Westphalia 
and  had  possession  of  Cologne,  Diisseldorf,  Elber- 
feld,  Essen,  etc.,  the  whole  of  our  chief  manufactur- 
ing area,  I  wonder  if  we  should  have  been  as  able 
as  they  to  keep  afloat.^ 

The  French  used  not  to  have  the  faculty  of  meet- 
ing misfortune  with  good  humour.  But  a  great 
change  has  come  over  them  since  1871.  Besides, 
the  presence  alongside  them  of  the  English  has 
been  like  a  cord  along  a  precipice.  It  has  steadied 
their  footsteps,  though  it  would  not  have  saved 
them  had  they  slipped. 

Ballin 

We  have  all  along  underrated  England.  Even 
her  army  of  amateurs  will  beat  ours  in  the  long  run. 
{General  surprise.)  Because  it  is  an  army  of  vol- 
unteers who  have  gone  in  to  win,  just  as  they  go 
into  a  football  match  to  win,  and,  when  all  Europe 
is  exhausted,  they  will  still  be  pouring  in  thousands 
of  men  from  all  their  empire  —  perhaps  America 
included.  I  know  the  Anglo-Saxon.  England  is  the 
common  home,  and  rather  than  see  a  German  army 
in  England,  fifty-odd  millions  of  Americans  would 
force  the  United  States  to  join  England. 


I-]  Missing  Links  95 

Professor 
Don't  you  think  the  Americans  are  divided  ? 

Ballin 

Not  the  Eastern  States,  where  the  safety  of  Eng- 
Hsh  cathedrals  and  Oxford  and  Cambridge  and 
Westminster  Abbey  and  Stratford-on-Avon  are 
concerned.  England  is  always  the  home  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  wherever  they  be.  They  may  have 
family  squabbles,  but  Old  England  belongs  as  much 
to  them  as  to  the  resident  English.  Besides,  no- 
body is  taken  in  but  ourselves  over  the  causes  of 
the  war.  We  began  it  badly,  and  I  can  tell  you,  from 
a  long  experience  of  business,  that  any  business 
which  begins  badly  goes  on  badly  and  ends  badly 
and  that  is  what  is  going  to  happen  in  this  business. 
The  only  thing  to  be  done  in  such  cases  is  to  stop 
and  wind  it  up  as  fast  as  possible. 

Professor 

It  is  very  difficult  to  stop.  We  must  have  some- 
thing to  show  for  all  this  expenditure  of  life  and 
treasure. 

Ballin 

Well,  we  have  beaten  the  Russians  on  land,  if  the 
others  have  beaten  us  at  sea. 

[VoN  Tirpitz  moves  off  to  speak  with  the 
Frau  Professorinn. 

Professor 

Poor  Tirpitz!  You  never  leave  him  the  chance  of 
an  illusion! 


96  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Ballin 

I  don't  want  to.  He  ought  to  go.  His  submarine 
feats  do  more  harm  than  good.  Besides  {violently), 
though  we  are  on  French  soil,  it  is  only  because 
we  misled  and  surprised  the  enemy.  We  have  ex- 
hausted our  advantage,  and  when  an  aggressor 
fails  in  his  object,  he  is  beaten.  Every  day  we  keep 
the  war  going  on  the  Western  Front  makes  things 
worse  for  us. 

Professor 

You  had  better  not  say  this,  my  dear  man, 
openly.  You  would  be  lynched  as  a  Pro-Englander. 

Ballin 

I  don't  think  so.  In  Berlin,  where  half  the  popu- 
lation is  degenerate,  maybe,  but  not  in  Hamburg 
or  Bremen  or  Liibeck,  where  the  war  is  unpopular 
and  people  are  sick  of  it.  Besides,  they  all  think  we 
are  in  the  wrong  and  feel  humiliated  at  the  brutal 
and  tactless  way  in  which  these  stupid  generals 
have  conducted  the  war. 

Professor 

That's  our  misfortune.  What  can  you  expect  of 
a  lot  of  half-educated  aristocrats  who  regard  the 
lives  of  ordinary  men  with  less  consideration  than 
they  do  their  cattle?  So  the  Hamburgers  are 
"Pro-Englanders  "  ? 

Ballin 

Everybody  in  Berlin  seems  to  be  regarded  as  a 
Pro-Englander,  if  for  a  moment  he  doubts  that  we 


I.]  Missing  Links  97 

are  going  to  sign  the  treaty  of  peace  in  Buckingham 
Palace. 

Professor 
Are  we  fools,  Ballin? 

Ballin 

Fools!  Call  us  lunatics! 

[PossEHL,  who  had  moved  off  and  has  been 
sitting  with  the  Frau  Professorinn  and 
the  Patriotic  Citizen,  moves  forward. 

PoSSEHL 

Who  is  that  windbag? 

Professor 

He  is  recruiting  for  the  Anti-English  League,  of 
which  he  is  the  founder,  and  represents  the  average 
German  fool.  I  thought  Biilow  would  like  to  see 
the  creature.  He  reflects  the  majority  here  in  Ber- 
lin —  the  God-punish-England  type.  What  do  you 
say  to  my  description  of  him,  Herr  Possehl  ? 

Possehl 

He  does  not  exist  in  the  Hanse  towns  and  I  can 
only  speak  of  them  with  knowledge.  We  rather 
suspect  violent  patriots  there. 

Von  Gwinner 
Suspect  them  of  what? 


98  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

POSSEHL 

In  business,  you  see,  very  emphatic  opinions  are 
like  advertisements.  The  wise  turn  their  noses 
away;  only  fools  swallow  'em. 

VoN  Helfferich 

The  Professor  's  right.  It  is  no  use  arguing  with 
fools  or  rogues.  If  they  are  fools,  they  don't  under- 
stand you  and  if  rogues  they  won't.  You  are  speak- 
ing of  that  patriotic  League.  Half  these  things  are 
created  for  the  benefit  of  the  founders  —  shady 
financiers  and  bedraggled  women  who  have  reputa- 
tions to  recover,  or  people  who  are  trying  to  rise 
on  the  back  of  charity  or  patriotism  to  a  higher 
rank  in  society  and  so  on. 

PossEHL 
But  where  do  they  find  their  recruits  ? 

VoN  Helfferich 

Oh !  among  the  stupid  and  ignorant.  It  is  amaz- 
ing how  the  war  has  brought  fools — downright, 
unredeemed  fools  —  to  the  fore. 

PoSSEHL 

A  man  told  me  yesterday  that  he  was  proud  he 
did  not  speak  a  word  of  English,  had  never  spoken 
with  an  Englishman  in  his  life,  had  never  been  to 
England,  and  so  on. 

Professor 

Don't  worry  about  that,  dear  Herr  Possehl.  It 
is  almost  a  University  maxim  that  the  pride  of 


I.]  Missing  Links  99 

knowledge  is  inaccessible  to  reason,  but  what  is  the 
pride  of  knowledge  to  the  pride  of  ignorance ! 

[Door  opens. 

Enter  Prince  von  Bulow  —  handshaking. 

Professor 

Welcome,  Highness. 

[Von  Tirpitz,  Von  Helfferich,  and  Von 
BiJLOW  moving  to  the  front, 

VoN  Tirpitz 
Well,  what  about  Italy? 

Von  BiJLOW 
Bad  —  don't  ask  me  questions.   I  shall  only  see 
His  Majesty  to-morrow.  He  sent  for  me  to  report. 

Von  Helfferich 
I  know.    {Pause.)    I  have  just  been  reading  the 
Italian  denunciation  of  the  Alliance  again.  What 
Machiavellianism  1 

VoN  BiJLOW 
Could  you  expect  anything  else  from  Italians? 
They  have  never  ceased  to  be  cinquecento. 

Professor 
Machiavelli,  it  is  true,  only  expressed  the  views  of 
his  environment. 

Von  BiJLOW 
Well,  his  environment  was  one  of  astute  and 
unscrupulous  egotism;  such  as  they  were  then,  the 
Italians  have  remained. 


loo  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Von  Tirpitz 
I  have  never  read  Machiavelli. 

Von  BiJLow 

More's  the  pity.  He  wrote  "The  Prince"  osten- 
sibly as  a  spelUng-book  for  territorial  pirates. 
(Smiling  at  Von  Tirpitz.)  It  professed  to  be  a  sort 
of  up-to-date  staff  manual,  showing  how  autocrats 
had  to  operate  to  keep  possession  of  the  vessel  of 
state  and  order  among  the  crew. 

[Von  Tirpitz  bewildered. 

Professor 
My  dear  Tirpitz  —  you  '11  have  to  read  it. 

Von  Helfferich  {amused  at  Von  Bulow's  chaff) 

True,  mon  prince^  they  remain  Machiavellian, 
but  we  had  taken  a  leaf  out  of  the  same  book  before 
the  Italians  denounced  the  Alliance. 

VoN  BiJLOW 
You  mean  in  tearing  up  the  "scrap  of  paper"? 

VoN  Helfferich 
Of  course. 

VoN  BULOW 

Maybe.  And  now  we  have  n't  even  the  comfort 
of  a  good  conscience  when  we  express  righteous  in- 
dignation about  the  Italian  defection. 


I.]  Missing  Links  loi 

Professor 

All  that  only  shows  the  moral  Inferiority  of  the 
Collective  to  the  Individual  mind. 

[Von   BiJLOW  retires  to  speak  to  the  Frau 

Professorinn. 
[The  Patriotic  Citizen  and  the  American 
Writer,  who  have  been  entertaining  the 
Frau  Professorinn,  come  forward. 

Patriotic  Citizen 

Everybody  Is  a  Pro-Englander  who  has  a  friendly 
word  to  say  for  those  brutes.  They  are  beyond  the 
pale  of  civilisation.  And  we  treat  their  wounded 
as  we  do  our  own.   It's  shameful. 

American  Writer 

But  have  you  evidence  of  the  allegations  against 
the  English? 

Patriotic  Citizen 

Evidence !  I  should  think  we  have.  Have  you  not 
read  the  reports? 

American  Writer 
What  reports? 

Patriotic  Citizen 
Why,  the  official  reports,  of  course! 

American  Writer 
I  never  believe  official  reports. 


I02  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Patriotic  Citizen  {indignantly) 
You  don't  suppose  they  are  concocted? 

American  Writer 
I  believe  the  wish  is  father  to  the  thought. 

Patriotic  Citizen  {turning  to  Helfferich) 

Your  eyes  must  be  opened  by  this  time  and  you 
must  be  thankful  you  did  n't  get  your  entente  with 
England? 

Von  Helfferich 
Why? 

Patriotic  Citizen 
If  you  had,  she  would  have  swallowed  us  up. 

VoN  Helfferich 
I  don't  understand. 

Patriotic  Citizen 

Do  you  mean  to  say  you  would  have  trusted  that 
treacherous.  .  .  .  No,  I  can't  stand  you  lukewarm 
fellows.  We've  got  to  root  them  out,  —  the  sneaky 
hypocrites,  making  piles  of  money  out  of  German 
brains  and  sitting  on  the  corn  in  the  manger  and 
barking,  when  any  horse  hungry  from  his  day's  work 
for  their  benefit  comes  near. 

VoN  Helfferich  {nodding  in  direction  of  Prince 

VON  BiJLow) 

Have  you  read  the  Prince's  book? 


I.]  Missing  Links  103 

Patriotic  Citizen 

No,  Sir.  And  I  don't  want  to.  It's  probably 
some  milk-and-water  apology  for  England.  It's  a 
disgrace  to  have  such  a  man  in  office  —  an  avowed 
friend  of  England  and  all  that  gang  of  assassins  — ■ 
and  married  to  an  Italian.  That's  enough  for  me. 
He  ought  to  be  in  a  concentration  camp.  I  can 
hardly  restrain  myself  from  telling  him  so  to  his 
face.  The  English  make  no  bones  about  these 
things.  They  soon  chucked  out  everybody  who  even 
knew  the  German  language.  We  ought  to  do  the 
same.  [Von  Helfferich  moves  away. 

VoN  Helfferich  {to  the  Professor) 

My  dear  fellow  —  I  can't,  I  really  can't  —  I 
can't  stand  that  man.  You  must  try  somebody  else 
on  him.  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  is  the  spirit  of 
the  Berlin  cockney.'' 

Professor 
That's  so.  So  beware  of  it.  It's  murderous. 

VoN  Helfferich 
Are  you  sure  he's  all  right  in  his  mind? 

Professor 

His  mind's  like  that  of  the  majority.  It's  all 
right  in  peace-time. 

VoN  Helfferich 

I  always  suspect  violent  Anglophobes.  He's 
all  right,  no  doubt  {laughing).   Battles,  however, 


I04  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

are  not  won  by  hard  words,  but  by  hard  blows, 
and  nothing  marks  the  coward  so  conclusively  as 
hatred. 

Professor 

I  agree  with  you,  hatred  is  the  sign  of  fear.  It  is 
the  unreasoning  instinct  of  the  weaker  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  stronger.  No  brave  man  can  hate. 

Ballin 

If  anything  could  prove  to  me  that  the  English 
are  more  than  a  match  for  us,  it  is  that  those 
who  are  responsible  for  the  war  have  started  that 
idiotic  cry,  "God  punish  England,"  and  the  "Anti- 
English  League."  They  know  the  war  is  becoming 
unpopular  and  think  with  such  rubbish  to  stiffen 
the  national  backbone. 

VoN  BULOW 

You  were  saying  that  the  English  are  more  than 
a  match  for  us. 

Ballin 

I  must  say,  all  the  same,  that  the  English  have 
shown  a  wonderful  lack  of  inventive  genius  in  the 
present  war.  That's  because  of  their  disbelief  in 
themselves.  It  works  out  in  their  thinking  every 
Englishman  equally  unfit  for  everything,  and  now 
that  they  have  no  German  experts  to  fall  back 
upon,  they  resort  to  their  old  silly  method  of  ap- 
pointing commissions  to  disguise  their  individual 
incompetency. 


I.]  Missing  Links  105 

Professor 

Well,  they  may  thank  Heaven  we  have  other 
things  that  are  worse. 

Ballin 

It  Is  not  the  English,  my  dear  Professor,  that 
I  really  criticise,  it  is  the  governing  class  and  their 
satellites,  who  have  got  hold  of  the  handle  of  the 
machine  —  all  tenacious  because  second-rate,  and 
because  second-rate,  jealous. 

Professor 

Oh!  yes,  jealousy,  the  demon!  Fighting  isn't 
confined  to  international  jealousies. 

Ballin 

Yes,  a  domestic  jealousy  you  may  never  have 
dreamt  of  has  cost  us  this  war.  The  artillery  com- 
mand got  the  staff  to  change  the  plan  of  campaign 
at  the  last  moment.  They  wanted  to  show  off  their 
new  guns  at  Liege  and  Namur  and  so  lost  the  six 
weeks  in  which  the  Staff  had  minutely  planned  the 
march  on  Paris  through  the  Belgian  Luxemburg. 

Professor 

I  did  not  know  that.  But  It  does  not  surprise  me. 
Nearly  all  our  public  offices  are  jealous  of  one  an- 
other, even  at  war  with  one  another  —  real  per- 
fidious war  in  which  all  arms  are  good,  short  of  the 
shedding  of  blood.  Yet,  after  all,  jealousy  is  only 
the  homage  of  the  poor  to  the  rich,  of  the  ugly  to 


io6  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 


the  beautiful,  of  failure  to  success,  the  unconscious 
confession  of  inferior  souls. 

Von  BiJLOW  (not  listening  to  the  Professor) 

The  English  are  no  fools.  By  nature  they  are 
lazy,  and  their  policy  is  invariably  that  of  following 
the  line  of  least  resistance.  By  always  doing  the 
minimum,  they  accumulate  energy,  and  then,  when 
everybody  else  has  been  exhausting  his,  up  gets  the 
lazy  giant  and  clutches  the  thing  most  worth  hav- 
ing and  sticks  to  it. 

Von  Tirpitz 
They  were  not  lucky  with  Cyprus  all  the  same. 

Von  Bulow 

Ah,  that  was  because  Disraeli  knew  neither  his- 
tory nor  geography.  He  confused  Cyprus  with 
Rhodes,  which  he  ought  to  have  taken.  Behind 
Rhodes  there  is  a  magnificent  harbourage.  Rhodes, 
not  Cyprus,  dominates  Port  Said.  The  Italians 
will  keep  Tt  if  they  can. 

[Von  Gwinner  and  Possehl  have  been  talk- 
ing aside.  Von  Gwinner  rises. 

Von  Gwinner 

I  shall  have  to  go.  In  short,  the  difficulty  is  that 
neither  side  can  show  the  slightest  desire  for  peace 
without  the  other  side  trying  to  get  a  moral  vic- 
tory out  of  it.  Yet  this  cursed  war  can't  go  on  for- 
ever. 


I.]  Missing  Links  107 

POSSEHL 

We  must  just  treat  the  period  as  a  -long  night 
during  which  we  have  done  nothing. 

Von  Gwinner 
An  Arctic  winter! 

PoSSEHL 

Hardly,  seeing  that  winter  is  the  time  when 
traffic  in  the  Arctic  zone  is  easiest.  However,  that 
is  by  the  way.  What  we  have  to  do  is  to  find  some 
sort  of  consolation  for  this  frightful  loss.  By  con- 
suming and  spending  the  minimum  we  come  near- 
est to  the  de  facto  situation  —  that  of  suspended 
animation.  The  danger,  of  course,  is  that  we  con- 
sume so  much  out  of  proportion  to  our  production, 
that  we  shall  start  again  after  the  war  with  a  heavy 
handicap  in  the  race  against  other  nations.  The 
British  blockade,  in  that  respect,  is  not  an  unmiti- 
gated misfortune. 

Von  Gwinner  {brightening) 
How? 

PoSSEHL 

Because  while  we  are  not  exporting  we  are  not 
importing  and  no  balance  is  growing  against  us. 
England's  imports,  on  the  contrary,  are  out  of  all 
proportion  to  her  exports.  She  can  pay  for  them 
with  her  accumulations.  We  could  not  out  of  ours. 
So  the  commercial  blockade  may  have  saved  us 
from  a  danger  to  which  England  is  exposed,  even 
in  spite  of  her  accumulations. 


io8  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Von  Gwinner 

Well,  that's  consoling  from  your  point  of  view 
as  a  merchant. 

POSSEHL 

What  I  am  afraid  of  is  that  we  may  lose  sight,  in 
the  political  settlement  of  the  question,  of  our  sup- 
ply of  minerals.  It  is  all  very  well  to  talk  of  giv- 
ing up  German  Lorraine,  but  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  our  mineral  resources  there  are  among 
the  richest  we  have. 

VoN  GwiNNER  {approaching  the  Professor) 

Good-night.  I  must  go. 

[The  Professor  accompanies  him  to  the  door 
and  returns.  Lull.  Regrouping. 

Professor 

As  regards  the  blockade,  we  have  been  thrown 
on  our  own  resources  with  wonderful  results.  The 
inventive  faculty  of  the  nation  has  been  stimulated 
under  the  intense  pressure  of  necessity.  We  have 
experimented  in  fields  of  activity  which  commer- 
cialism would  have  repudiated  as  unpractical  and 
tested  theories  and  methods  which  have  hitherto 
been  sneered  at  by  .  .  . 

PoSSEHL 

Say  the  word.  Professor  .  .  .  businessmen.  Quite 
right.  Yet  a  proportion  must  be  drawn  before 
money's  spent  between  the  cost  price  and  that 


I.]  Missing  Links  109 

you  can  get  from  the  purchaser.  But  you  are  quite 
right.  The  blockading  of  Germany  has  also  had 
the  effect  you  say. 

Professor 

Necessity  is  a  hard  taskmaster,  but  in  the  long 
run  it  has  its  uses  and  is  not  unkind.  The  blockade 
has  also  given  us  a  chance  of  organising  thrift  and 
treating  it  not  as  cold-blooded  avarice,  but  as  a 
saving  virtue,  and  if  the  war  lasts  long  enough  for  it 
to  eat  into  the  character  of  the  people,  the  Germans 
will  have  their  bas  de  laine  like  the  French. 

Ballin 
And  be  as  unenterprising,  if  that's  so. 

Professor 

No,  my  dear  man,  that  is  your  mistake.  You 
are  confusing  cause  and  effect.  The  French  have 
killed  enterprise  by  their  economic  system.  After 
the  war  they,  too,  will  have  learnt  something  and 
you  may  be  sure  it  will  be  in  the  sense  of  reaction. 
Just  as  ours  will  be  against  extravagance,  theirs 
will  be  against  excessive  thrift.  A  protective  sys- 
tem is  a  blockade.  It  has  the  same  effect  of  isola- 
tion and  throwing  a  nation  on  its  own  resources. 
In  fact,  enterprise  and  the  inventive  faculty  stand 
almost  in  inverse  ratio  to  each  other. 

Ballin 

Surely  enterprise  is  an  expression  of  the  inven- 
tive faculty? 


no  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Professor  {laughing) 

Yes,  you  are  right.  Of  course.  I  did  not  say  ex- 
actly what  I  mean.  I  mean  that  the  inventive 
faculty  of  a  nation  swings  like  a  pendulum  between 
two  poles.  They  represent  thrift  and  extravagance, 
abstract  science  and  trading  activity,  calm  progress 
of  thought  and  research  and  exhaustion  in  the 
accumulation  of  wealth,  individual  prosperity  and 
concentration  of  wealth  .  .  . 

Ballin 

Very  interesting.  Professor.  Then  you  did  not 
approve  of  the  amalgamation  of  the  Hamburg- 
Amerika  and  the  Nord-Deutscher  Lloyd  r 

Professor 

I  don't  approve  or  disapprove  of  things,  my  dear 
Ballin.  I  merely  watch  the  process  of  development. 
Germany  like  the  United  States  will  have  a  reac- 
tion after  the  war  against  trusts  and  combines 
and  methods  generally  of  suppressing  competition 
and  running  the  world  for  the  benefit  of  a  small 
minority  of  very  rich  and  powerful  men  and  a  vast 
mass  of  down-trodden  industrial  serfs.  I  am  not 
a  friend  of  Csesarism  in  politics  and  still  less  its 
friend  in  industry  or  trade.  Industrial  Csesarism 
in  the  United  States  is  having  deplorable  results, 
and  the  man  who  defeats  it  will  defeat  revolution 
and  the  terrible  reaction  preparing  to  crush  it.  The 
greater  the  swing  up,  the  stronger  the  swing  down. 
Social  democracy  in  Germany  owes  its  progress  far 
more  to  industrial  than  to  political  Csesarism. 


I.]  Missing  Links  1 1 1 

Ballin 

Professor!  I  sometimes  have  a  feeling  of  vertigo 
when  I  Usten  to  you.  I  see  the  depth  below  and 
the  height  above,  and  the  danger  of  allowing  mere 
political  busy-bodies  to  interfere  with  man's  des- 
tiny. 

Professor 

I  hope  you  know  now  what  I  mean  by  Fate 
and  the  quicksands  into  which  political  blindlings 
gallop  their  countries  .  .  . 

Ballin 

What  a  tragedy  the  past  must  seem  to  a  man 
like  you,  Professor!  But  what  about  the  future.^ 

Professor  {to  Ballin) 

There  can  be  only  one  satisfactory  end  to  the 
war  and  that  is  that  the  power  of  England  to  rule 
the  world  be  broken. 

Ballin 
To  whom  would  that  be  satisfactory? 

Professor 
To  the  world. 

Ballin 

I  seldom  differ  from  you  in  opinion,  dear  Pro- 
fessor. You  are  so  full  of  historical  experience  and 
broad-minded  indulgence,  but  on  this  subject  I 


112  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

think  you  are  hopelessly  wrong,  and  I  do  know 
something  from  practice  of  the  relative  positions 
of  England  and  Germany  in  the  world. 

Professor  {indignantly) 

If  the  only  alternative  were  not  the  destruction 
of  the  power  of  Germany,  I  might  have  a  less  ab- 
solute opinion  .  .  . 

Ballin 

But  there  is  a  third  alternative.  It  is  that  we 
both  abandon  the  struggle. 

Professor 
Only  to  begin  again? 

Ballin 

No,  my  dear  friend  —  never  to  begin  again  till 
mankind  again  forgets  what  war  is. 

VoN  BiJLOw 

All  anticipations  of  settlement  are  premature. 
When  the  parties  get  round  the  green  cloth  it  will 
be  a  devil  of  a  job  to  adjust  all  the  interests  and 
there  will  be  bitter  disappointments  for  many  and 
not  a  few  surprises.  Any  idea  of  resettling  the  world 
on  the  basis  of  confining  the  changes  to  the  bellig- 
erent Powers  is  foredoomed.  Besides,  this  war  has 
been  on  too  vast  a  scale  and  will  be  too  inconclu- 
sive for  peace  to  be  attained  with  any  regard  to 
principles  of  justice. 


I.]  Missing  Links  1 1 3 

Professor 

It  took  the  Powers  engaged  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  ten  years  to  come  to  terms,  and  the  fighting 
went  on  down  almost  to  the  very  signing  of  the 
Peace  in  1648. 

Von  BiJLow 

Anyhow,  it  will  take  many  months  to  work  out 
any  useful  solution,  and  you  may  rest  assured  the 
conclusion  will  respect  neither  rights  nor  claims. 
There  can  be  no  neutrals  when  the  settlement 
comes.  The  whole  world  will  have  to  go  into  the 
melting-pot. 

Professor 

What  a  muddle  it  will  be!  Men  trying  to  solve 
the  riddles  of  evolution  on  political  principles  of 
greed  and  ignorance !  Heaven  save  us ! 

[Prince  von  Bulow  taking  leave  —  all  fol- 
low his  example.  The  Professor  and 
the  Frau  Professorinn  and  daughter  re- 
main. 

Professor  {to  the  Frau  Professorinn) 

Well,  you  see  there  are  plenty  of  reasonable  peo- 
ple in  Germany  still,  dear. 

Daughter  (contemptuously) 

Reasonable !  I  hate  your  fish-blooded  reasonable 
people,  father. 


114  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Professor 

Darling,  warm-bloodedness  has  brought  us  to 
where  we  are. 

[The  Daughter,  evidently  disagreeing,  kisses 
her  father  and  mother  and  retires. 

Frau  Professorinn 

Still,  I  have  not  heard  a  word  of  revolt  about  the 
asphyxiating  gas.  The  Germans  ought  to  feel 
ashamed  of  their  country  doing  a  mean,  unmanly 
thing  like  using  poisoned  gas.  It's  no  better  than 
poisoning  wells. 

Professor 

Yet,  there  Is  nothing  worse  in  half-poisoning  a 
man  than  in  half-killing  him  with  a  piece  of  shell. 
You  don't  suppose,  when  he  gets  his  jaw  or  arm  or 
leg  half  wrenched  off,  he  is  in  less  pain  than  when 
he  loses  his  senses  by  suffocation? 

Frau  Professorinn 

Yes,  I  do.  Suffocation  is  worse  than  any  pain, 
because  it's  not  only  physical. 

Professor 

Mind,  my  darling,  I  am  not  defending  the  use  of 
gas,  but  it  is  just  as  well  to  have  one 's  mind  clear 
about  it.  Men  were  using  bows  and  arrows  when 
gunpowder  was  invented.  Just  imagine  the  in- 
dignation of  the  archers  when  they  were  hit  by 
cannon-balls  and  bullets,  before  they  could  get 


I.]  Missing  Links  1 1 S 

near  enough  to  hit  back,  hit  by  a  thing  they  could- 
n't see  coming  and  could  not  dodge.  A  cloud  of 
arrows  did  relatively  little  harm.  Its  chief  purpose 
was  to  upset  the  enemy  formations  and  prepare  the 
way  for  charging  troops.  In  fact  the  gas  serves  the 
same  purpose  as  the  arrows  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Remember,  men  are  not  bound  to  remain  and  be 
poisoned  or  suffocated,  but  can  run  away,  and  that's 
just  the  object  of  the  gas. 

Frau  Professorinn 

I  can't  argue  with  you.  I  know  you're  wrong, 
but  I  can't  say  where.  It  sounds  reasonable,  but 
I'm  sure  an  Englishman  as  clever  as  you  would 
have  something  to  say  in  reply. 

Professor 
Perhaps. 

Frau  Professorinn 

Anyhow,  there  is  no  particular  merit  in  assault- 
ing a  man  unawares,  nor  is  it  very  brave  and  noble 
to  give  assurances  that  he  can  leave  his  door  open 
with  impunity  and  then,  when  he  goes  trustfully 
to  bed,  burgle  him. 

Professor 

Necessity! 

Frau  Professorinn 

Don't  talk  to  me  of  necessity.  It  is  a  mere  sham, 
an  excuse  for  any  villainy  that  seems  to  promise  a 


1 16  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

profit.  What  I  say  is  this :  Germany's  invasion  of 
Belgium  and  France  was  mere  burglary.  She  got 
into  her  neighbours'  houses  before  they  could  get 
weapons  to  defend  themselves.  Wherever  she  has 
won,  as  when  she  has  used  poisonous  gases  and 
flames,  she  has  won  by  craft.  As  for  her  feats  at 
sea,  I  blush  at  the  thought  of  them.  In  fact,  I  was 
proud  of  being  German  till  I  saw  Germans  dumb 
about  all  these  horrors  and  massacres. 

Professor 

Massacres! 

Frau  Professorinn 

Yes,  the  massacres  in  Belgium  were  a  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Day  and  will  never  be  forgotten. 

[Both  arranging  things,  windows^  etc.    The 
Professor  opens  the  door. 
It's  all  so  mean  and  cruel. 

[The  Frau  Professorinn  goes  out. 

Professor 
Ready.? 

Frau  Professorinn  {outside) 

All  right. 

[  The  Professor  switches  off  the  electric  light. 


curtain 


ACT  II 

SCENE  I 
MAY  6 

Garden-house  in  park  at  Potsdam.  Under  wide- 
spreading  tree.  Table.  Rocking-chairs.  Work- 
baskets.  Socks.  Flannel.  Worsted  on  table  and 
scattered  on  ground.  Sunshades.  Early  summer  sun. 

The  American  Writer  and  Prince  von  Bulow 
outside  garden-house  in  conversation. 

American  Writer  {slow  of  speech) 

I  owe  everything  to  Germany  and  deplore  this 
war,  and  what  I  deplore  most  is  that  I  cannot  find 
one  word  to  say  in  Germany's  defense. 

Von  BijLow 
It  had  to  come,  as  the  Professor  would  say. 

American  Writer 

Yes,  he  says  it  had  to  come,  now  it  is  here,  but 
then,  he  is  a  fatalist,  as  all  historians  who  are  not 
mere  politicians  become.  What  I  deplore  is  not  the 
war,  which  might  have  done  ultimate  good,  but  the 
engineering  of  it. 

Von  BiJLow 

"^  qui  le  dites-vous  ?'' 


ii8  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

American  Writer 

Yes,  I  know. 

Von  Bulow 

Any  steadfast  policy  in  Germany  is  impossible. 
His  Majesty  is  the  best  of  men,  kind,  conscien- 
tious, indefatigable,  but  too  brilliant  for  a  consti- 
tutional sovereign.  In  character  he  is  wonderfully 
like  his  great  ancestor,  and  if  he  had  been  King  of 
Prussia  only  and  absolute  sovereign  over  it,  and 
been  inoculated  with  French  instead  of  English 
tendencies,  he  might  have  rendered  his  country 
immense  services. 

American  Writer  {surprised) 
How? 

Von  BtJLow 
By  civilising  it. 

American  Writer 

Civilising  it? 

VoN  Bulow 

Yes,  by  civilising  it.  My  dear  Sir,  you  don't 
know  Germany  as  I  do. 

American  Writer 

Civilisation!  You  make  a  distinction  between 
civilisation  and  "Kultur"! 

VoN  Bulow 

Certainly!  Every  nation  has  its  "Kultur."  Ger- 
many is  only  beginning  to  have  the  civilisation 


II-]  Missing  Links  119 

which  France  has  never  lost,  and  which  is  latent 
in  Italy. 

American  Writer 

And  the  Anglo-Saxon? 

Von  Bulow 

He  has  never  had  it.  You  are  indignant.  Civili- 
sation, after  all,  has  only  an  arbitrary  meaning. 
I  mean  by  it  possession  of  the  reflective  spirit, 
something  that  no  schooling  can  give.  The  spirit 
of  the  Italian  peasantry,  for  instance.  Few  of  them 
can  even  read,  but  they  have  understanding  for  the 
greater  things  of  life  —  noble  sentiment,  beauty 
of  form,  elevation  of  character,  the  music  of  lan- 
guage. You  Anglo-Saxons  have  not  yet  reached  the 
unmixed  enjoyment  of  these  greater  things.  Your 
enjoyment  of  them  is  complicated  by  the  desire  to 
turn  them  to  account  and  the  race  for  wealth  or 
position  is  a  fatal  bar  to  the  growth  of  this  higher 
state  of  development.  We  Germans  had  much  of 
it.   "Kultur"  has  been  destroying  it. 

American  Writer 

I  shall  want  to  digest  all  that.  Prince.  It  is 
startling.  But  to  return  to  His  Majesty,  you  don't 
think  his  influence  has  been  good  for  Germany  ? 

VoN  BiJLow 

That  depends.  He  has  turned  Germany  into 
Anglo-Saxon  grooves,  and  it  has  become  as  intel- 
lectually dull  as  all  industrial  and  money-making 
communities  are. 


1 20  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Enter  the  Professor  —  handshaking. 

Professor 

Please  do  not  let  me  Interrupt.  You  were  mak- 
ing a  very  true  remark  about  the  intellectual  dul- 
ness  of  money-making  communities.  Look  at  the 
Phoenicians,  who,  for  all  their  wealth  and  com- 
mercial enterprise,  have  not  left  behind  them  a 
vestige  of  anything  of  the  slightest  value  to  pos- 
terity. 

Enter  VoN  Etting. 

Von  Etting 

His  Majesty  will  see  Your  Highness.  Her  Ma- 
jesty will  be  here  in  a  few  minutes. 

[Exeunt   the    American    Writer  and   the 
Professor  in  conversation. 

Von  Bulow 
Well,  Etting,  things  don't  seem  very  brilliant. 

Von  Etting 

Just  the  same  chaos  as  ever.  No  policy,  no  di- 
rection, no  system,  only  a  huge  machine  churning 
on  and  on. 

VoN  BiJLOW 

My  poor  Etting.  You'll  have  to  come  to  Italy 
and  rest  your  nerves. 

VoN  Etting 

Nerves !  I  have  none  left.  I  am  a  bit  of  the  gear 
of  this  highly  efficient  machine. 


II 


.]  Missing  Links  121 


Von  BiJLow 
The  thing  everybody  admires! 

Von  Etting 

I  thought  the  war  would  save  us  from  this  abom- 
inable bourgeois  materialism,  but  it  is  all  hopeless. 

VoN  BuLOW 

You  need  a  rest,  Etting. 

VoN  Etting 

I  have  not  had  a  fortnight  off  since  I  left  you  in 
1905. 

Von  BiJLow 

His  Majesty  simply  does  not  think  of  it.   Shall 
I  say  a  word  to  him?  [Steps  approaching. 

Enter  the  Kaiser  and  the  Kaiserin,  followed  by 
Grafin  Ejvima.  Handshaking, 

Kaiserin 
How  is  the  Princess? 

Von  Bulow 

Never  better.    She  has  no  time  for  ailments. 
Does  not  His  Majesty  look  well? 

Kaiser 
Nothing  to  complain  of.    Good  news  —  good 


122  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

sleep.    Well,  what  are  those  confounded  Italians 

up  to? 

[Takes  the  Prince  by  the  arm,  and  exeunt. 
[The  Kaiserin,  dressed  in  black,  settling 
herself  to  work,  among  the  scattered  ma- 
terials, GrAfin  Emma  mixing  something 
from  bottles  with  labels.  Hands  glass  to  the 
Kaiserin. 

Kaiserin 

It's  not  disagreable  —  a  taste  of  almonds  !^  I 
suppose  that's  to  make  it  palatable.  Everything 
ought  to  be  made  palatable  in  life,  dear  Emma. 
Oh,  this  dreadful  war!  Is  it  never  coming  to  an 
end?  [Looks  out  into  the  trees » 

[Grafin  Emma  silent. 

Has  it  not  struck  you,  Emma,  how  wonderfully 
patient  and  considerate  the  Germans  are?  After 
all,  they  might  have  blamed  us.  [A  pause. 

His  Majesty  was  right,  Emma.  He  did  not  want 
war. 

Grafin  Emma  {without  conviction) 

Yes,  Ma'am. 

KLaiserin  {surprised) 

You  think  His  Majesty  did  want  it? 

Grafin  Emma 

If  Your  Majesty  will  allow  me  to  express  a  mere 
private  individual  opinion,  I  think  His  Majesty's 
feelings  {Gefuhle)  were  against  it,  and  his  reason 
{Vernunft)  was  for  it. 


II.]  Missing  Links  123 

Kaiserin 

I  think,  Emma  dear,  you  are  quite  wrong.  It 
was  his  feeHngs  that  carried  him  away.  You  were 
not  at  Berhn  when  His  Majesty  spoke  to  the  crowd 
in  front  of  the  Palace.  It  was  wonderful,  Emma. 
It  was  the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd.  And  you  know 
how  crowds  aifect  His  Majesty.  [Pause. 

The  Crown  Prince  ought  to  be  here  by  this  time. 

Grafin  Emma 

Yes,  Ma'am.  His  Imperial  Highness  has  a  sore 
throat,  and  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 

Oh,  the  poor  boy!  How  do  you  know,  Emma.? 
They  never  tell  me  anything.  I  don't  think  the  poor 
boy  is  really  strong. 

Grafin  Emma 

They  say.  Ma'am,  he  is  much  stronger  than  he 
was.  Sore  throat  is  very  common  just  now. 

Kaiserin 
You  mean  at  the  front. 

Grafin  Emma 
Yes,  Ma'am.  They  say  it  is  the  gas. 

Kaiserin 
What  gas,  Emma?  They  tell  me  nothing. 


1 24  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Grafin  Emma 

The  English  use  a  poisonous  gas,  and  when  the 
wind  permits,  they  pump  it  into  our  trenches. 

Kaiserin 
Just  think.  Do  our  men  die  of  it? 

Grafin  Emma 
It  suffocates  them  and  they  die  in  terrible  agony. 

Kaiserin 

The  English  are  such  hypocrites,  not  truly  re- 
ligious, or  they  would  have  more  respect  for  human 
suffering.  All  through  the  war  their  behaviour  has 
been  scandalous. 

Grafin"  Emma 

Yes,  Ma'am,  barbarous !  They  even  mutilate  the 
prisoners. 

ELaiserin 
Do  you  believe  that,  Emma? 

Grafin  Emma 

Yes,  Ma'am.  It's  awful  to  see  the  number  of 
cases  of  blindness  in  our  hospitals. 

Kaiserin 
But  you  said  prisoners,  Emma  dear. 


II.]  Missing  Links  125 

^  Grafin  Emma 

Yes,  but  it  Is  just  the  same.  Our  wounded  men 
say  the  English  are  perfectly  ferocious  —  like  wild 
beasts. 

Kaiserin 

Have  you  spoken  with  them  about  it  yourself, 
Emma? 

Grafin  Emma 

No,  but  everybody  says  so. 

Kaiserin 

And  what  about  the  French  and  Russians .?  What 
does  everybody  say  about  them? 

Grafin  Emma 
Nothing  at  all,  Ma'am. 

Kaiserin 
By  the  by,  Emma,  who  are  everybody? 

Grafin  Emma 
Everybody  I  see,  Ma'am. 

Kaiserin 

The  ladies  about  the  Court  and  their  wounded 
husbands? 

Grafin  Emma 

Not  their  husbands.  They  are  not  allowed  to  say 
anything  even  to  their  wives  about  the  war. 


126  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiserin 
Then  how  do  you  know,  Emma? 

Grafin  Emma 

Perhaps  the  ladies  do  hear  it  from  their  husbands. 
Besides,  Berlin  is  full  of  officials  and  officers  who 
know  the  truth. 

Kaiser'in 

My  dear  Emma,  what  is  one  to  believe?  By  the 
by,  Emma,  why  do  you  think  the  Italians  will  go 
against  us  ? 

Grafin  Emma 

My  brother,  Ma'am,  says  the  Italians  hate  the 
Germans  almost  as  much  as  they  do  the  Austrians. 
That  was  when  he  was  one  of  the  attaches  there,  — 
some  ten  years  ago. 

Kaiserin 
Do  you  mean  during  the  Morocco  affair? 

Grafin  Emma 

Yes,  Ma'am,  I  remember  his  indignation  quite 
well.  He  said  the  Marquis  Visconti  Venosta  was 
a  notorious  Anti-German.  He  was  sent  as  chief 
delegate  to  Algeciras  on  that  account. 

Kaiserin 

Yes,    I    remember.     His   Majesty   spoke   very 
strongly  to  the  Ambassador  about  it.       [A  pause. 
Read  that  letter  to  me  again,  Emma. 


II.]  Missing  Links  127 

Grafin  Emma  (taking  a  letter  out  0}  her  satchel  and 

reading) 

"His  last  words  in  his  delirium  were 
*Deutschland  iiber  Alles,'  which  he  was  singing 
when  his  heart  stopped." 

KLaiserin 

It  is  terrible,  Emma!  Such  a  splendid  boy,  so 
handsome,  so  clever,  so  brave,  and  such  a  patriot! 
He  felt  the  sense  of  the  words.  Germany  truly  held 
the  first  place  in  his  heart.  Oh,  to  think  of  all  these 
fine  boys  being  killed !  When  one  of  them  dies  of  an 
accident,  the  whole  family  mourns  the  cruel  fate 
which  carried  off  their  hope  in  the  prime  of  his 
youth,  and  here  are  millions  being  killed  artificially, 
and  for  what?  However  much  I  dislike  that  awful 
Professor  and  his  pedantic  ways,  I  can't  help  think- 
ing he  is  right  about  this  war.  It  is  a  mere  explosion 
of  national  anger,  and  if  we  had  all  kept  our  heads 
cool  and  not  been  in  such  a  hurry,  the  war  might 
have  been  averted. 

[Grafin  Emma  looks  incredulous. 

You  don't  think  so,  Emma? 

Grafin  Emma 

I  have  no  opinion  of  my  own,  but  if  Your  Ma- 
jesty will  permit  me  to  suggest  .  .  . 

[Picks  up  an  envelope  from  among  the  ma- 
terials. 

Kaiserin 

What  is  that,  Emma? 


128  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Grafin  Emma 

It  seems  to  be  a  letter,  but  it  has  no  writing  out- 
side. 

Kaiserin 

Open  it,  dear  Emma.  Probably  another  petition 
for  peace. 

Grafin'  Emma  {opening  it  and  reading) 

"Your  Majesty  —  I  am  merely  a  maid  in 
Your  Majesty's  service.  I  am  engaged  to  a 
corporal  in  a  Berlin  regiment.  He  has  been 
brought  back  wounded,  with  half  his  face  shot 
away,  and  blind.  He,  whom  his  father  and 
mother,  crippled  with  age  and  rheumatism, 
relied  upon  to  till  their  small  holding,  who  rose 
with  the  sun,  sober,  hard-working,  and  honest 
as  God's  daylight,  can  see  no  more.  He,  whose 
fine,  manly  voice  sang  with  the  birds  in  praise 
of  God  in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening, 
when  he  was  still  not  too  tired  to  make  the 
valley  resound  with  his  song,  is  now  dumb  and 
a  cripple.  That,  Your  Majesty,  is  what  this 
war  means  to  his  father  and  mother,  and  to  me. 
I  wish  Your  Majesty  to  know  that  I  am  mad 
with  grief,  and  that  I  have  vowed  vengeance 
on  you  and  all  your  kind  for  this  cruel  war. 
You  think  the  German  people  are  blind  to 
your  guilt.  It  is  you  who  are  blind.  No  Ger- 
man mother,  wife,  or  bride  (Braut)  will  ever 
forgive  you.  Nobody  believes  your  lies.  .  .  .'* 


II.]  Missing  Links  129 

Kaiserin  {sobbing) 

Oh !  stop,  Emma,  stop !       [Grafin  Emma  stops. 
Go  on,  Emma,  I  must  do  something  for  that 
girl. 

Grafin"  Emma  {reading) 

"Nobody  beUeves  your  lies.  At  first,  we 
thought  Germany  was  defending  herself  against 
enemies.  But  now  we  know  from  our  wounded 
the  real  truth.  I  dare  say  Your  Majesty  has 
a  kind  heart,  but  what  avails  a  kind  heart  if 
Your  Majesty  does  nothing  but  be  kind  1  I  am 
not  threatening  Your  Majesty  with  an  assas- 
sin's dagger,  but  I  give  Your  Majesty  a 
solemn  warning  that  your  house  is  doomed, 
that  the  German  people,  so  patient,  so  good- 
natured,  so  peaceable  and  hard-working,  con- 
sider that  you  have  forfeited  their  trust. 
Socialism,  anarchy,  anything  is  better  than  an 
autocrat  who  can  do.  Madam,  what  your  hus- 
band has  done." 

Kaiserin  {indignant  and  aghast) 

What? 

Grafin  Emma  {reading) 

"His  hand  is  against  every  man,  and  every 
man's  hand  is  against  him." 

Kaiserin  {clutches  Grafin  Emma's  arm) 

Oh,  Emma !  Oh,  Emma ! 

[Sinks  into  her  seat,  staring. 
[Grafin  Emma  jumps  up  in  alarm. 


130  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiserin  {waving  her  off) 

The  girl  is  so  right,  Emma.  That's  the  worst  of 
it.  Look  around  us.  Every  civilised  nation  in  the 
world  is  against  us  in  spirit,  if  not  in  arms. 

[Grafin  Emma  sohhing. 

{Taking  her  in  her  arms.)  What,  Emma!  You! 

Grafin  Emma 
Yes,  my  brother. 

Kaiserin 
The  Captain? 

Grafin  Emma 
Yes,  Ma'am,  killed. 

Kaiserin 

And  all  his  young  family  and  his  farm  {Pacht), 
Oh,  how  shocking,  my  poor,  dear  Emma,  and  you 
there  so  calm  and  I  did  not  know. 

[The  two  women  embrace. 

Don't  let  us  read  any  more  of  that  terrible  letter. 
It  has  quite  unnerved  me. 

Grafin  Emma 

I  hope  Your  Majesty  will  pardon  my  saying  so, 
but  I  think  Your  Majesty  sympathises  with  the 
poor  broken  heart  of  the  writer  of  this  letter. 

Kaiserin  {looking  astonished) 
Dear  Emma,  is  it  your  letter? 


II.]  Missing  Links  13^ 

Grafin  Emma  {sobbing) 
No,  Ma'am. 

Kaiserin 
You  helped  the  girl  to  write  it? 

Grafin  Emma 

No,  Ma'am.  I  know  the  girl  who  wrote  it, 
such  a  good,  kind  girl,  who  was  devoted  to  Your 
Majesty. 

Kaiserin 

That  pretty  parlour-maid  —  I  should  like  to 
see  her. 

Grafin  Emma 

Shall  I  read  the  rest  of  the  letter? 

Kaiserin 

No,  Emma,  give  it  to  me. 

{Taking  it  and  reading.  Throwing  herself  on 
her  knees  and  burying  her  head  in  the  arm- 
chair on  which  she  had  been  sitting. 

{Pause. 

{Rising  and  looking  determined  and  speaking 

with  decision. 

Emma,  my  mind  is  made  up.  His  Majesty  was 

carried  away  by  that  crowd  at  the  Palace  gates, 

and  made  war  because  he  heard  in  their  cheers  the 

voice  of  God,    I  too  have  now  heard  the  voice  of 

God.   God  has  come  to  me  through  that  girl.   He 

has  put  a  great  resolve  into  my  soul,  and  when  I 


132  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

prayed  for  His  help  He  gave  it,  and  now  I  know  my 
duty  to  Him.   It  is  to  stop  this  war. 

Grafin  Emma  {throwing  herself  on  her  knees  and 
kissing  the  Kai serin's  hand  with  fervour) 

Oh,  Madam! 

Enter  the  Kaiser. 

Kaiser 

Well,  motherkin.  Why,  you  have  been  crying! 
What's  the  matter? 

[The  Kj^iserin  nods  to  Grafin  Emma.  Exit, 

Well? 

Kaiserin  {throwing  her  arms  around  His  Majesty's 
neck  and  heaving  with  sobs) 

Willie! 

Kaiser  {mistaking  Her  Majesty^ s  emotion  for  joy 

at  being  with  him) 

Well,  well,  here  we  are  again,  still  both  of  us  in 
the  land  of  the  living.  [The  Kaiserin  still  sobbing. 

{Getting  impatient.)  Come  now,  sit  down, 
motherkin,  and  let  me  tell  you  something  about 
the  war. 

Kaiserin  {sitting  down  and  wiping  her  eyes) 

No,  William,  no,  tell  me  nothing  about  it.  Noth- 
ing about  the  war.  It  is  nothing  but  misery  — 
cruel,  unending  misery  —  fatherless  children,  weep- 
ing widows  and  mothers,  destitution  everywhere, 


II.]  Missing  Links  133 

destruction  of  the  work  of  ages,  human  and  divine. 
The  war,  WiUie,  is  a  wanton  crime  {passionately) 
a  wanton,  unpardonable  crime.  I  have  just  heard 
the  voice  of  God.  He  has  raised  it  against  us  in  the 
hearts  of  mankind.  We  are  branded  with  the  mark 
of  Cain. 

Kaiser  {astonished) 
But,  motherkin  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 

You  don't  understand.  I  want  Peace.  {Almost 
shouting.)   Peace  at  once! 

Kaiser 

But,  my  dear  wife !  How  can  I  give  you  peace  at 
once  or  at  all,  except  as  the  fruit  of  victory?  We 
shall  have  peace  in  due  course,  when  we  have  over- 
come our  enemies,  and  down  to  now  we  have  de- 
feated them  all. 

Kaiserin 

You  don't  see  the  war.  You  see  only  victories 
and  brave  men  on  their  way  to  destruction,  with 
the  lust  of  fighting  and  blood  in  their  eyes.  You 
don't  see  them  lying  dead  on  the  battle-field,  every 
one  of  them  a  tragedy,  their  mothers  and  wives  and 
children  longing  at  home  for  their  return,  and  the 
loved  one  lying  dead,  killed  with  less  concern  for 
his  dear  life  than  for  that  of  a  .  .  .  Oh,  William, 
you  don't  see  the  mothers,  and  widows,  and  chil- 
dren as  I  do,  or  you'd  not  be  so  heartless. 


134  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiser 
I  am  not  heartless,  dear.  But  war  is  war. 

ELaI  SERIN 

For  God's  sake,  William,  don't  use  that  hack- 
neyed phrase.  War  is  murder,  assassination,  blas- 
phemy, treachery,  robbery,  burglary,  arson.  It 
means  every  sin  against  God  and  man  that  man- 
kind is  capable  of.  It  is  nothing  but  a  vast  organized 
crime.  How  are  you  going  to  give  back  the  mil- 
lions of  husbands,  sons,  and  fathers  you  have  had 
killed,  to  the  families  you  have  made  destitute? 

[The  Kaiser  dumbfounded. 

You  thought  you  heard  the  voice  of  God  when 
those  poor,  ignorant  people  acclaimed  you.  You 
insulted  God  when  you  thought  He  spoke  through 
their  besotted  cheers.  God  has  spoken  to  me  in  the 
voice  of  the  heart-broken,  of  those  who  look  to  Him 
for  pity.  You  are  blinded  by  your  own  blood- 
stained eyes.  I  see  the  suifering  world,  and  God  has 
stirred  within  me  my  mother's  heart.  It  has  gone 
out  to  the  other  women  of  Germany.  What  can 
you  give  us  back,  in  return  for  what  you  have  taken 
from  us?  We  have  given  you  the  strong  limbs  of 
our  children  to  make,  create,  and  build  up  a  great 
nation.  They  were  beautiful  children  and  they  made 
Germany  the  greatest  nation  among  God's  peo- 
ples, a  sober,  honest,  hard-working  nation.  What 
have  you  done  with  this  greatest  of  God's  gifts  to 
a  sovereign  ?  If,  on  the  Day  of  Judgment,  God  asks 
you  that,  William?  The  whole  world  sees  what 
you  do  not  see,  your  guilt,  William. 


II.]  Missing  Links  135 

Kaiser  (in  greatest  agitation) 

But  I  did  not  want  the  war. 

[Walking  faster  and  faster  up  and  down  — 
stopping  in  front  of  the  Kaiserin. 
It  can't  be  stopped. 

Kaiserin  {firmly) 
It  can  and  must  be  stopped. 

Kaiser 
How? 

Kaiserin 
I  don't  know  how,  but  stop  it  must. 

Kaiser 

You  don't  mean  that  we,  the  victors,  must  sue 
for  peace! 

Kaiserin 

Is  diplomacy  so  helpless  that  it  can't  find  some 
method  t 

Kaiser  {irresolute) 
I'll  see.  You  know  Italy  has  turned  against  us? 

ICaiserin 
Yes  —  But  I  thought  ... 

Kaiser 

Billow  tells  me  she  may  declare  war  only  against 
Austria-Hungary  .  .  . 


136  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiserin 
But  is  not  that  the  same  thing? 

Kaiser 

It's  frightfully  complicated.  Peace  is  frightfully 
complicated  —  a  great  deal  more  complicated  than 
war.  I  hardly  understand  it  myself.  None  of  us 
are  fighting  our  real  enemies.  The  worst  of  it  is 
we  have  to  disguise  our  true  purposes  or  the  whole 
scaffolding  would  crumble  to  the  ground.  We  are 
not  yet  ready  for  a  diplomatic  grouping  in  accord- 
ance with  our  ultimate  objects,  and  you  must  trust 
me,  my  dear,  to  .  .  . 

{Putting  his  hand  to  his  head.)  The  Magyars  want 
peace  and  the  Czechs  are  openly  hostile  to  us.  We 
might  have  peace  through  Franz  Josef!  He  has 
been  hinting  at  it  ever  since  the  fall  of  Przemysl. 
That's  why  he  appointed  Burian.  I  don't  like 
Burian.  I  believe  him  to  be  a  Pro-Englander  and 
Anti-German,  but  he  is  a  very  clever  fellow,  and  if 
our  enemies  had  not  been  so  ignorant  and  stupid- 
they  would  have  taken  advantage  of  his  ap- 
pointment and  kept  Italy  quiet  and  forced  peace. 
Franz  Josef  appointed  him  in  Berchtold's  place  to 
spite  us. 

Kaiserin 

Can't  he  be  used  ?  If  you  would  only  just  stop 
hostilities  for  a  little  and  try  to  see  if  you  can't 
come  to  terms. 


II.]  Missing  Links  137 

Kaiser 
What  terms? 

Kaiserin 
Are  you  not  fighting  for  anything? 

Kaiser 
We  are  defending  ourselves. 

Kaiserin 

Oh,  William!  How  can  you  say  such  a  thing, 
when  you  know  you  declared  war  on  Russia. 

Kaiser 

Well,  if  we  had  not,  Russia  would  have  declared 
war  on  us. 

Kaiserin 

How  can  you  tell  what  Russia  would  have  done? 
What  sort  of  a  life  should  we  lead  if  we  were  to  at- 
tack everybody  we  suspected  as  capable  of  attack- 
ing us?  Besides,  you  know  Russia  was  quite  un- 
prepared for  war,  and  told  me  so  yourself. 

Kaiser 

She  would  have  been  ready  in  19 17  when  her 
strategical  railways  were  completed  and  then  .  .  . 
Oh,  my  dear,  sometimes  I  think  I  am  not  equal  to 
the  job  I  have  inherited. 

Kaiserin 
You  are  the  only  sovereign  in  the  world  who  is 


138  The  Sands  of  Fate  [11. 

equal  to  it,  and  now  you  must  apply  your  mind  to 
the  task  of  peace.  {Pleadingly)  You  have  done 
the  task  of  making  war  so  magnificently  that  you 
alone  can  say  with  honour  —  "I  have  beaten  you 
all,  but  I  am  not  a  mere  bloodthirsty  ogre  —  I 
think  we  all  must  have  had  enough  of  this  awful 
war.   I  now  offer  you  peace." 

Kaiser 

That  would  be  all  right  if  we  had  sensible  people 
to  deal  with,  but  we  have  n't.  They  would  all  say 
we  had  been  forced  to  yield,  and  the  German  peo- 
ple would  revolt  at  such  an  indignity.  However, 
I  will  see  what  can  be  done  through  Burian,  to  try 
and  conciliate  Italy  almost  at  any  price.  "Au 
revoir,"  my  darling.  It  has  done  me  good  to  hear 
you.  What  a  lecture  you  have  given  me!  You 
never  gave  me  a  lecture  before  .  .  . 

[The  Kaiserin  smiling.    Exit  the  Kaiser. 
[The  Kaiserin  resumes  work,  stops,  puts  her 
hand  over  her  eyes  in  deep  contemplation. 

[Pause. 

Enter  the  Crown  Prince  unperceived  by  the 

Kaiserin. 

Kaiserin  {suddenly  becoming  aware  of  the  Crown 
Prince's  presence,  jumps  to  her  feet) 

My  darling  boy! 

Crown  Prince 

Mother!  {Embracing.)  I  have  just  seen  father. 
How  splendid  he  looks !  But  I  say,  mother,  — we  're 


II 


.]  Missing  Links  139 


in  an  awfully  bad  fix.  The  whole  blessed  thing  's 
going  wrong. 

Kaiserin  {bidding  him  sit  down) 
How,  dear.? 

Crown  Prince 

We're  going  to  lose.  Of  course,  all  the  blame  is 
being  shoved  on  to  me.  I  had  n't  any  say  in  the 
matter,  and  have  little  even  now. 

Kaiserin 
Who's  putting  the  blame  on  to  you,  dear? 

Crown  Prince 

I  don't  say  anybody  is  actually  putting  the  blame 
on  me.  It  Is  n't  what  is  said  so  much  as  what  is  not 
said. 

Kaiserin 

Said  or  not  said  by  whom,  Willie? 

Crown  Prince 
I  don't  say  anything  about  father.  Only  .  .  . 

Kaiserin 
Well? 

Crown  Prince 

I  did  n't  want  the  war.  It  is  all  very  well  to  say 
when  things  go  badly,  "I  did  it  for  you,"  and  when 
they  go  well,  "I  did  it  for  myself."  You  know, 
mother,  I  had  nothing  really  to  do  with  it. 


HO  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiserin 

But,  my  dear,  you  seemed  so  enthusiastic  about 
it  when  you  came  that  day  to  Potsdam. 

Crown  Prince 

You  quite  misunderstood  me,  dear  mother.  I 
only  meant  that  it  was  inevitable.  Father  would 
n't  see  the  inevitable.  It  lay  with  him  and  him  alone 
to  decide  for  or  against  it,  and  he  must  bear  the 
whole  responsibility  of  it.  I  wipe  my  hands  of  all 
responsibility. 

Enter  Grafin  Emma. 

Grafin  Emma 

May  I  remind  Your  Majesty  that  she  has  prom- 
ised to  visit  the  wounded  at  the  Orangerie-Laza- 
reth  this  afternoon. 

Kaiserin 

Oh,  Emma,  I  had  almost  forgotten. 

[Exit  the  KLaiserin  on  the  Crown  Prince's 
arm.  Grafin  Emma  arranging  the  mate- 
rials. 


curtain 


II.]  Missing  Links  141 


SCENE  II 

The  Kaiser's  study  at  Schloss,  Berlin,  as  in  Part 
I,  Act  III. 

Von  Etting  in  officer^ s  uniform.  Maid  brings  in 
tray  with  tea  and  sandwiches.  VoN  Etting  begins 
pouring  out  tea.  Burns  his  fingers.  Tea  too  weak. 
Waits.  Begins  again.  Slices  lemon.  Listless.  In- 
terrupts operations  to  go  to  desk  and  look  at  a  docu- 
ment. Returns — sips,  etc.,  etc.  Passes  hand  over  his 
head  —  evidently  tired.  Throws  himself  into  an  arm- 
chair and  puts  a  handkerchief  over  his  eyes.  A  few 
moments  pass. 

Enter  Maid,  who,  seeing  Von  Etting  apparently 
asleep,  goes  out  again  and  knocks  at  door. 
Voices.  Von  Etting,  standing  up. 

Von  Etting 
Come  in. 

Enter  the  Chancellor,  Prince  von  Bulow,  and 
General  von  Bernhardi. 

Von  BiJLOW 

Then,  General,  you  do  not  think  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  if  railway  and  mining  accidents  and 
shipwrecks  could  be  avoided. 

General  von  Bernhardi 

You  mean  that  if  I  think  war  is  necessary  as  a 
reaction  against  materialism,  I  ought  to  regard 


142  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

occasions  for  display  of  the  same  virtues  as  in  war 
as  welcome  as  war.  Logically,  the  parallel  might  be 
right  if  accidents  could  be  organised.  —  But  all 
that  is  by  the  way.  The  main  thing  now  is  to  see 
we  get  an  adequate  return,  and  where  essentials 
are  concerned  there  is  no  distinction  between 
friends  and  foes.  Austria  must  go.  Germany  must 
have  Trieste. 

Von  Bulow 
And  if  the  Italians  get  it? 

General  von  B^rnhardi 

We'll  turn  'em  out. 

Von  Bulow 

Bead  possidentes. 

General  von  Bernhardi 

Trieste  is  Germany's  bone  and  she'll  let  no  two- 
penny-half-penny Power  keep  it.  We  can't  get  it 
at  once,  but  we  can  get  nearer  it,  and,  just  as  a  dis- 
lodged rock  rolls  down  a  slope,  we'll  roll  down  the 
Alps  to  the  Mediterranean. 

VoN  BtJLOW 

Do  you  think  the  English  and  French  would  not 
see  that  game  ? 

General  von  Bernhardt 

See  it?  No!  Why,  you'd  have  to  take  a  hammer 
and  chisel  to  open  their  eyes  to  anything  so  obvious. 


II-]  Missing  Links  143 

Von  BtJLow 

Their  fatuity  is  only  different  from  ours,  my 
dear  General,  in  the  character  of  the  blindness. 
We  fill  up  the  horizon  with  fanciful  pictures  of 
Eldorados.  They  sling  their  missiles  at  random, 
hoping  some  of  them  have  hit,  but,  imable  to  dis- 
tinguish friend  from  foe.  Who  could  imagine  that 
they  would  throw  Austria-Hungary,  the  Balkans, 
and  Turkey  into  our  arms!  But  you  can  trust 
political  wiseacres  to  gobble  any  fly. 

General  von  Bernhardi 

If  Italy  fails  us,  there  can  be  only  one  policy  for 
Germany,  that  is  to  secure  an  outlet  over  Bulgaria 
and  Turkey  down  to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  make  a 
bee-line  for  Asia.  That  would  divide  the  eastern 
hemisphere  into  two  longitudinal  areas.  Western 
Europe  —  that  is,  England,  France,  Spain,  Italy, 
and  the  smaller  Atlantic  States  —  on  the  one  side, 
and  Germany,  with  her  line  of  domination  through 
Austria-Hungary,  Serbia,  Bulgaria,  and  Turkey, 
on  the  other.  Russia  would  be  driven  out  of  Poland 
and  the  Baltic  and  have  to  fight  out  the  Far-East- 
ern problem  with  England  and  Japan  by  herself. 

VoN  BULOW 

A  heavy  task  for  Germany,  my  dear  General. 
Alsace  was  more  than  an  armful. 

General  von  Bernhardt 

Yes,  but  that  was  because  we  did  not  strike 
down  opposition  with  the  mailed  fist. 


144  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Von  Bulow 

So  you  propose  to  rule  Bulgaria  and  Serbia  with 
the  mailed  fist? 

General  von  Bernhardi 

It  will  be  no  question  of  choosing.  They  have 
been  trained  in  subjection  and  are  born  to  it.  They 
will  appreciate  intelligent  German  rule  under  which 
they  will  develop  and  prosper. 

VoN  BuLOW 
And  Turkey? 

General  von  Bernhardi 
It  will  be  the  German  India. 

Von  Bulow 

Upon  my  soul,  you  would  shoulder  a  big  burden, 
and  do  you  think  His  Majesty  would  lend  himself 
to  that  gigantic  scheme? 

General  von  Bernhardi 

His  Majesty  will  do,  you  may  be  sure,  what  will 
commend  itself  to  his  people,  and  his  people  will 
want  a  big  crop  after  such  a  sowing  of  blood  and 
treasure. 

Von  Bulow 

And  you  think  the  Bulgarians  and  Turks  will 
rise  to  your  scheme. 

General  von  Bernhardt 
They  will  not  be  asked.    We  are  in  possession. 


11.]  Missing  Links  145 

The  Turks  have  tried  again  and  again  to  wriggle 
out  of  our  grip  and  have  failed.  Every  day  we  are 
strengthening  it. 

VoN  BilLGW 

And  you  fear  no  revolt.'* 

General  von  Bernhardi 

None.  We  have  that  silly  mystic,  Enver,  to  shove 
forward  as  the  Saint  and  machine-guns  to  play  the 
part  of  the  Devil. 

Von  BiJLow 
Good  Lord! 

General  von  Bernhardi 

My  dear  Prince,  you  belong  to  old  Germany. 
You  don't  realise  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  an  up- 
heaval which  may  settle  the  conditions  of  Europe 
for  a  thousand  years.  The  old  races  have  had  their 
time.  It  is  a  new  one  —  the  German  race  —  that 
is  now  going  to  have  its  time.  For  a  hundred  years 
the  German  race  has  been  preparing  for  this  war. 
It  has  come.  Rome  had  her  day,  England  has  had 
hers.  Germany's  turn  has  come,  and  we  shall  only 
sheathe  our  sword  when  the  German  Empire  ex- 
tends from  the  Baltic  to  the  Indian  Ocean. 

VoN  BiJLow 

And  suppose  Bulgaria  and  Turkey  find  you  out 
in  time,  and  Enver  and  the  German  officers  are 
kidnapped  before  you  secure  your  occupation. 


146  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

General  von  Bernhardi 

They  are  too  stupid  and  lazy  to  do  anything  so 
original. 

Von  BiJLOw 

And  the  Reichstag  and  the  money-bags  ? 

General  von  Bernhardi 

The  money-bags  will  burst  with  plenty  for  a 
fait  accompli.  I  must  go.  Au  revoir.  [Exit. 

Von  BiJLow 
What  do  you  think  of  Bernhardi's  policy.'' 

Chancellor 

lam  afraid  he's  right  in  one  respect.  We  were 
like  a  bulb  which  was  being  squeezed.  And  now 
lateral  grips  are  forcing  us  into  a  policy  we  did 
not  originally  contemplate  and,  instead  of  getting 
our  ports  on  the  North  Sea,  we  shall  become  an 
Asiatic  power. 

Von  BiJLow 

You  don't  seriously  mean  we  may  annex  our 
allies  ? 

Chancellor 

I'm  afraid  it  can't  be  helped.  It's  the  only  thing 
we  can  do.  Besides,  it's  more  natural  than  it  looks. 
It  will  be  a  great  blessing  to  Austria,  Serbia,  and 
Bulgaria  to  be  properly  administered  by  competent 
Prussian  officials,  and  as  for  Turkey,  we  are  quite 
as  able  to  govern  her  as  England  is  to  govern  India. 


II.]  Missing  Links  147 

Von  Bulow 

That 's  what  we  Ve  come  to.  The  very  Decalogue 
has  gone  into  the  melting-pot.  But  .  .  .  que  voulez- 
vous  ?  Qui  veut  la  fin  veut  les  moyens.  And  all  this  is 
done  in  the  name  of  patriotism ! 

Chancellor 
The  patriotism  is  genuine  enough. 

VoN  BiJLOw 

Yes,  just  as  a  thief  can  be  genuinely  attached  to 
his  booty.  I  prefer  our  older  indifference  to  pa- 
triotism. By  the  by,  you  know  what  Heine  said  of 
a  German's  patriotism  in  his  time.'' 

Chancellor 

No. 

Von  BiJLOw 

He  said  a  Frenchman  loved  his  country  as  he 
loved  his  mistress  —  at  her  feet  one  day,  abusing 
her  another,  jealously  watching  her  virtue,  sus- 
picious, trusting  and  distrusting  her,  loving  her, 
hating  her,  everything  by  turns.  The  Englishman 
loved  his  country  as  he  did  his  wife  —  a  solid,  sub- 
stantial affection  without  passion;  she  was  there 
at  the  head  of  his  table  and  had  to  be  respected  as 
a  part  of  himself.  The  German  loved  his  country 
with  the  devotion  men  felt  for  their  grandmothers. 

Chancellor 
You,  surely,  prefer  Bernhardi's  patriotism  to  that! 


148  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Enter  the  Professor. 

Von  Bulow 

Not  when  it  takes  the  form  of  dragging  his  coun- 
tr>^'s  reputation  in  the  mud.  We're  speaking  of 
Bernhardi. 

Professor 

I  don't  think  you  do  him  justice  when  you  say 
that.  EngHsh  writers  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  wrote  in  the  same  style — Pasley, 
for  instance.  I  could  show  you  whole  passages  in 
his  book  which  you  would  fancy  Clausewitz, 
Treitschke,  or  Bernhardi  had  copied  almost  to  the 
wording.  We  are  going  through  the  same  phase  of 
development  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth 
century  as  the  English  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth.  Bernhardi  is  merely  a  belated  writer  in 
a  belated  age.  There  is  a  painful  lack  of  political 
subtlety  in  the  present  age. 

VoN  BiJLOW 

Subtlety  has  never  been  a  quality  of  statesman- 
ship. In  statesmanship  a  man  has  to  play  the  part 
of  the  artist  who  is  given  a  dead  man's  picture  to 
finish.  Besides,  by  the  time  he  is  in  a  position  to 
emancipate  his  policy  from  superannuated  tradi- 
tions, he  is  sick  of  his  master  or  his  master's  sick  of 
him. 

Professor 
Is  there  no  remedy? 


II-]  Missing  Links  i49 

Von   Bulow 

None!  The  only  great  statesmen  or  diplomatists 
I  have  ever  come  across  have  been  discovered  with 
as  great  an  indifference  to  class  and  training  as 
poets. 

Professor 

I  wonder  whether  this  war  Is  not  going  to  play 
the  part  misfortune  plays  In  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual. 

Von  BiJLow 

"The  lessons  of  adversity"  —  but  If  It  destroys 
our  trade  and  our  Industry? 

Professor 

I  don't  think  It  will  do  that.  The  only  war  which 
was  not  followed  by  an  immense  revival  was  the 
"Thirty  Years'  War,"  which  killed  off  such  a  pro- 
portion of  the  populations  of  the  countries  con- 
cerned that  new  generations  had  to  grow  up  before 
Industrial  progress  could  be  resumed. 

Von  Bulow 
And  this  war,  what  mortality! 

Professor 

Bad  as  It  Is,  it  Is  not  yet  a  mortality  of  coming 
generations  as  the  "Thirty  Years'  War"  was.  The 
women  are  there,  and  their  mental  and  practical 
qualities  have  been  stimulated  by  the  war.  After 
ail,  the  life  of  a  nation  depends  on  its  women. 


150  The  Sands  of  Fate  [11. 

Von  BiJLOw 

Professor,  you  don't  surely  propose  that  we  shall 
have  to  permit  polygamy? 

Professor 

No,  not  exactly,  but  Nature  has  her  own  ways 
of  righting  things,  and  all  the  laws  of  empires  are 
mere  switches  against  a  stone  wall  when  they  come 
up  against  the  great  facts  of  Nature.  War,  more- 
over, may  operate  as  a  rest  for  the  intelligence.  It 
employs  little  more  than  the  latent  instincts  of 
earlier  stages  in  development,  from  the  treachery 
of  the  Australian  savage,  through  all  the  stages  of 
more  or  less  primitive  men:  bestiality,  blood-lust, 
cruelty,  theft,  and  so  on, —  instincts  which,  having 
lain  so  long  dormant,  seem,  when  awakened,  to 
overflow  with  accumulated  energy.  While  war 
lasts,  the  higher  faculties,  on  their  side,  seem  to  lie 
dormant  and  accumulate  energy.  This  tallies  with 
historical  experience.  After  nearly  every  great  war 
there  has  been  an  outburst  of  intelligence  and  art 
and  literature. 

VoN   BULOW 

That's  a  very  ingenious  explanation.  Professor, 
just  the  opposite  of  the  usual  one,  but  I  quite  agree 
with  you  that  history  has  been  too  much  detached 
from  mental  physiology.  Climate,  natural  re- 
sources, soil,  the  direction  of  navigable  rivers  are  all 
working  out  or  creating  problems,  but  the  fixed 
denominator  in  the  history  of  mankind  must  al- 
ways be  man's  character.  I  see  your  point,  Pro- 
fessor. 


II.]  Missing  Links  151 

Professor 

And  that  is  just  the  element  of  which  least  ac- 
count is  taken.  That  these  lower  instincts,  which 
are  awakened  in  war,  are  merely  dormant,  or  over- 
lain by  a  stratum  of  higher  mentality,  is  shown  by 
the  fact,  which  is  not  yet  appreciated,  that  the 
growth  of  the  individual  is  a  succession  of  different 
stages  in  the  development  of  his  species,  if  not  of 
vertebrates  in  general.  So  that  every  individual  has 
already  passed  through  the  stage  to  which,  in  war- 
time, he  reverts.  But  here  am  I,  lecturing  you,  our 
greatest  statesman. 

VoN  BULOW 

Lecturing!  Why,  Professor,  you  are  giving  me 
ideas  for  statesmanship,  and  statesmen  need  them 
badly.  ^^An  nescis,  magistery  quantilla  prudentia 
regitur  orbis  ?  " 

Professor 

Nor  will  that  observation  ever  grow  less  time- 
honored. 

VoN  BuLOW 

;  "iV?7  novi  sub  sole  .'" 

Enter  Ballin. 

Chancellor 

Oh,  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Ballin.  I  could  not  get 
you  on  the  telephone.  His  Majesty  has  sent  word 
that  he  wants  to  see  you  to-night. 


152  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Ballin 

The  Professor  here,  whom  I  met  Unter  den  Lin- 
den, told  me  His  Majesty  wanted  me,  so  I  came 
along.  Well,  Excellency,  what  news  from  the  front? 

Chancellor 
Oh,  the  usual  thing. 

Baixin 
Any  prospect  of  peace? 

Chancellor 
Not  the  remotest. 

Ballin 

And  mediation? 

Chancellor 

Impossible.  [Ballin  surprised. 

Oh,  no.  I  am  not  against  it,  but  it's  impossible. 
Germany  can  only  accept  it  as  a  victorious  bellig- 
erent, and  her  enemies  are  not  defeated  and 
would  n't  listen  to  it. 

Professor 

In  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  Russia  would  not 
listen  to  mediation  even  after  the  battle  of  Muk- 
den, because  she  did  not  consider  herself  beaten, 
though  the  Japanese  were  victorious  and  were 
ready  to  accept  it.  If  she  had  accepted,  she  might 
have  spared  herself  this  war. 


II.]  Missing  Links  153 

Ballin 

I  think  the  Germans,  If  they  knew  the  hopeless- 
ness of  the  struggle  on  both  sides,  are  too  reason- 
able not  to  understand  that  we  have  to  choose 
between  evils. 

Chancellor 

I  am  sorry  I  can't  discuss  the  matter  with  you 
just  now.  But  if  you,  Mr.  Ballin,  will  draw  a  pre- 
sentment of  the  position  as  you  view  it,  I  feel  sure 
His  Majesty  would  give  it  the  attention  he  always 
gives  to  your  view. 

Ballin 

I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Dernburg. 
Some  passages  may  Interest  you. 

[Takes  voluminous  document  out  of  his 
pocket,  unfolds  it,  finds  pages.  Reading: 

"The  war  has  solved  several  problems. 

"  I.  That  England  has  the  supremacy  of  the 
sea  and  can  keep  it  by  bottling  us  up.  Ger- 
many's geographical  position  we  can't  change, 
and  unless  we  had  not  only  the  mouths  of  the 
Rhine  and  the  Scheldt,  but  also  Dunkirk, 
Boulogne,  Havre,  Cherbourg,  and  half  a  dozen 
other  places,  besides  possession  of  the  great 
Belt  and  the  Sound,  we  could  not  play  a  part 
at  sea  which  would  rival  that  of  England.  So 
we  had  better  give  up  that  idea  once  for  all, 
have  done  with  it,  and  try  for  something  else. 

"2.  The  present  war  has  been  a  failure  —  a 
failure  for  us,  in  spite  of  our  victories.  Its  new 


154  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

methods  paralyse  one  another,  and,  apart  from 
the  first  advantages,  which  may  be  gained  by 
surprise,  it  serves  no  purpose  in  Western  Eu- 
rope. France  thought  she  could  get  back  Al- 
sace by  war — she  has  failed.  England  thought 
she  could  destroy  the  German  navy  by  war  — 
she  has  failed.  Germany  thought  she  could 
get  a  colonial  Empire  by  war  —  she  has  failed. 
Austria  thought  she  could  get  the  mastery  in 
the  Balkans  by  war  —  she  has  failed.  Russia 
thought  she  could  arrest  the  outbreak  of  Rev- 
olution and  the  break-up  of  the  Empire  of  the 
Czars  —  she  has  failed  and  her  defeat  may 
accelerate  their  downfall.  And  all  these  fail- 
ures will  have  made  us  all  bankrupt.  That  is 
the  net  result  down  to  now,  and  there  is  no 
chance  of  betterment  for  any  of  the  parties." 

Professor 

Thank  God!  [The  Chancellor  surprised. 

(With  emphasis).    Yes,  you  will  think  I  am  a 
"little  German"  or  a  Pro-Englander. 

Ballin  {reading) 

"One  fancies  at  a  distance  that  the  whole  of 
Europe  is  mad.  When  I  lie  awake  with  nothing 
to  hear  but  the  steady  throb  of  the  great  city, 
I  can  hardly  realise  that  there  are  millions  of 
men  engaged  in  a  gigantic  work  of  murder, 
that  they  are  hurling  at  each  other  tons  and 
tons  of  huge  pieces  of  metal,  over  miles  of 
God's  earth,  tearing  up  the  patient  soil  which 
is  only  waiting  to  yield  food  and  raiment,  kill- 


II.]  Missing  Links  155 

ing  brave  men  in  the  prime  of  life  and  born  for 
their  country's  glory,  men  who  are  the  chief 
asset  in  every  country's  wealth,  one  another's 
producers  and  consumers  —  it  seems  to  me  so 
pitiful  that  men  should  not  have  more  intelli- 
gence than  not  to  see  that  every  man  they  kill 
is  an  impoverishment  of  the  world  and  a  source 
of  distress  to  the  innocent.  Then  I  think  of  all 
the  kind  people  I  know  in  these  different  coun- 
tries, —  yet  they  are  carrying  on  a  work  of  de- 
struction against  each  other  with  a  bitterness 
such  as  the  world  has  never  before  witnessed. 
I  ask  who  is  responsible  for  this  colossal  mis- 
take, this  artificial  loosening  on  mankind  of  all 
the  calamities  it  has  ever  undergone,  and  all 
for  no  good  whatsoever  to  anybody." 

Professor 

Of  course,  Dernburg  must  not  say  such  things  in 
Germany.  You  had  better  warn  him.  In  America 
people  are  not  maddened  as  they  have  become 
here.  Here,  nobody  will  listen  to  anything  that 
suggests  peace.  Nothing  but  the  destruction  of  the 
British  Empire,  annexation  of  Belgium,  and  an 
indemnity  that  will  cripple  France  for  a  century 
will  please  our  "men  in  the  street."  And  if  you  ex- 
press the  slightest  doubt  as  to  feasibility,  you  are 
damned  as  a  pro-Englander.  They  are  all  mad. 
Still,  one  must  make  allowances.  The  majority  in 
all  countries  is  composed  of  men  whose  minds  be- 
come easily  unbalanced,  and  in  times  of  emotion 
their  feelings  burst  through  their  thin  intellectual 
shell.  ~ 


156       '       The  Sands  of  Fate  [11. 

Ballin 

Besides,  whatever  place  we  get  will  be  of  no  use, 
unless  it  secures  us  against  war  for  a  generation  at 
least. 

Professor 

There  is  only  one  guarantee  for  the  peace  ot 
Europe. 

Ballin 
What  is  that.? 

Professor 

I  dare  hardly  express  it  while  the  world  Is  gravi- 
tating towards  oligarchic  despotism.         [^  pause. 

It  is  the  supremacy  of  parliamentary  institu- 
tions. 

Ballin 

They  have  proved  a  source  of  weakness. 

Professor 

Just  for  that  reason  their  supremacy  Is  a  check. 
They  are  a  check  in  the  prosecution  of  war,  — 
true,  —  but  for  the  same  reason  they  're  a  check  on 
those  who  engineer  it.  Hasty  decisions  are  neces- 
sarily more  or  less  speculative.  Among  Individuals 
the  risk  merely  exposes  the  one  party  to  losing  to 
another  and,  in  the  event,  the  community  loses 
nothing.  A  mistake  of  statesmanship  involves  the 
whole  community.  Parliamentary  government  is  a 
safeguard  against  hasty  decisions. 


II.]  Missing  Links  i57 

Ballin 

Only,  of  course,  to  the  extent  to  which  parHa- 
mentary  control  reaches. 

Professor 

Of  course.  Both  a  Foreign  Relations  Committee 
and  a  second  Chamber  with  powers  of  delaying 
final  decisions  are  requisite.  Government  without 
them  is  practically  as  great  a  danger  to  peace  as 
Cossack  or  Prussian  absolutism. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

t  VoN  Etting 

Gentlemen!  His  Majesty  wishes  to  see  the  Chan- 
cellor alone.  He  has  just  arrived. 

[Exeunt  all  save  Von  Etting  and  the  Chan- 
cellor. 

Enter  the  Kaiser. 

Kaiser 

Sit  down,  Bethmann. 

[Looks  over  correspondence  on  his  desk.  Pause. 

1  had  a  long  talk  with  Biilow  this  morning,  and 
have  just  seen  Jagow.  It  looks  all  very  bad.  An- 
other of  your  mistakes,  Bethmann.  You  thought 
England  would  not  stir. 

[The  Chancellor  looks  distressed. 

{Walking  up  and  dozvn  the  room.)    Italy  is  in  a 
quandary.   I  don't  see  how  she  is  going  to  extric"^ 
herself  from  her  obligations.    Provided  she  keeps 


158  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

her  promise  to  us,  her  intervention  .  .  .  But  I  have 
no  faith  in  Burian.  He's  a  Magyar.  No  Magyar 
can  be  trusted  to  work  for  us.  [Pause. 

Do  you  know  all  about  Burian? 

Chancellor 

No,  Sir,  not  more  than  from  having  met  him 
when  he  came  here  in  February. 

Kaiser 

How,  in  God's  name,  are  you  going  to  manage 
him  without  knowing  more  of  him  than  that.^*  A 
statesman,  especially  a  clever  one  like  Burian, 
wants  a  lot  of  study.  Do  you  know  anything  about 
his  political  education  and  antecedents? 

Chancellor 

Not  much,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

There  is  no  guile  about  you,  Bethmann.  And  it 
is  difficult  to  say  harsh  words  to  you.  But,  frankly, 
you  are  not  a  political  genius. 

Chancellor 
A4y  resignation  is  in  your  hands.  Sir. 

Kaiser 

It's  no  use  talking  about  resignations  now.  Your 
resignation  now  would  do  you  little  honour  and  me 
none.  [Pause. 

Well,  I'll  post  you  up  in  Burian.    He  has  the 


11.]  Missing  Links  159 

art  of  holding  his  tongue.  Neither  you  nor  I  have 
that.  {Laughing  lugubriously.)  More's  the  pity. 
He  is  a  silent  man,  not  because  he  is  a  fool  who 
has  nothing  to  say.  He  has  a  great  deal  to  say 
when  he  thinks  it  desirable  to  say  it,  but  with  the 
pack  of  idiots  around  him  —  except  Esterhazy  — 
I  suppose  he  has  got  back  Esterhazy  —  Do  you 
know  Esterhazy? 

Chancellor 

No,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

God  in  heaven!  [Pause. 

Well,  Esterhazy  was  Aehrenthal's  right-hand 
man  —  his  wife's  English  —  and  he  led  us  a  devil 
of  a  dance  in  the  Bosnia-Herzegovina  affair.  Aeh- 
renthal,  Burian,  and  Esterhazy  made  an  anti-Ger- 
man trio.  Aehrenthal  was  half  a  Czech  and  his  wife 
a  Magyar,  and  the  others  were  both  Magyars.  We 
beat  them  with  the  aid  of  England. 

Chancellor 
Of  England,  Sir?  [Looks  surprised. 

Kaiser 

Yes,  Bethmann.  England  backed  the  wrong 
horse.  Like  you,  she  tried  to  handle  the  Bosnia- 
Herzegovina  question  on  "mathematical  lines,"  as 
the  Professor  would  say,  drove  Austria  back  into 
our  arms,  and  —  but  you  know  all  that,  Bethmann? 

Chancellor 
Yes,  Sir,  but  I  did  not  think  England  .  .  . 


i6o  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Kaiser 

No,  of  course  not,  Bethmann.  You  thought  we 
had  all  the  merit!  Not  a  bit  of  it.  We  owed  our 
success  to  the  bungling  of  our  opponents.  That's 
the  true  art  of  diplomacy;  know  your  man,  get  the 
lie  of  his  weaknesses,  watch  for  them,  let  him  en- 
tangle himself  in  his  own  net,  and  then  despatch 
him!  {Laughing.)  That's  not  bad  for  a  crowned 
head,  is  it,  Bethmann  ^  You  ought  to  be  a  crowned 
head,  Bethmann,  —  you  really  ought. 

[The  Chancellor  looks  perplexed. 
Poor  old  Bethmann !  You  must  n't  mind  my 
letting  off  my  steam.  But  beware  of  Burian.  Al- 
though a  silent  man,  he  has  a  great  deal  of  personal 
magnetism.  When  he  was  at  Athens  he  captivated 
the  whole  diplomatic  corps,  and  between  captivat- 
ing and  capturing  il  n''y  a  qu'un  pas.  I  am  ex- 
pecting Jagow  —  so  wait  here.  I  '11  be  back  in  ten 
minutes.  [Exit. 

[The  Chancellor  walks  up  and  down  the 
room  in  evident  agitation  —  looks  at  des- 
patch which  is  lying  open  at  the  edge  of  the 
desk  —  reads,  takes  up  blue  pencil,  under- 
lines something,  continues  walking  up  and 
down.    Three  minutes  elapse. 

Enter  Herr  Von  Jagow. 

Von  Jagow 
His  Majesty  flown? 


II.]  Missing  Links  i6i 

Chancellor 

No,  he'll  be  back  in  less  than  ten  minutes.  Well, 
Jagow,  what  do  you  think  of  this  ? 

Von  Jagow 

I  quite  expected  it.  It  was  a  choice  of  evils.  If 
Italy  had  not  stood  firm  against  Austria  —  Austria 
would  probably  have  defected.  Austria  is  not  a 
willing  partner  in  the  war.  Nor  is  her  Sovereign. 

Chancellor 
Nor  Burian. 

Von  Jagow 

Burian  is  still  a  dark  horse  here. 

Chancellor 
His  Majesty  knows  all  about  him. 

Von  Jagow 

Indeed!  He  was  always  jealously  kept  in  the 
background.  I  know  a  good  deal  about  him.  As 
joint  Minister  of  Finance  of  Austria-Hungary,  he 
administered  Bosnia-Herzegovina.  .  .  .  His  ideal 
is  a  powerful  and  independent  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire. 

Chancellor 

And  what  about  the  racial  difficulties  ? 

Von  Jagow 

He  thinks  they  are  exaggerated,  and  that  a  fed- 
eration properly  engineered  can  work  quite  satis- 


1 62  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

factorily,  and  even  has  advantages  over  a  homo- 
geneous empire.  Remember,  he  is  not  a  blood-and- 
iron statesman,  and  has,  I  am  afraid,  the  contempt 
of  the  philosopher  for  our  Prussian  pole-axe  system 
of  government. 

Chancellor 

You  speak  as  if  you  rather  sympathised  with 
him,  Jagow. 

Von  Jagow  {laughing) 

I  don't  know  Your  Excellency  as  a  blood-and- 
iron statesman  either. 

Chancellor 

Good  Lord,  no.  But  none  of  us  are,  and  why  we 
are  engaged  in  this  senseless  and  hopeless  struggle, 
God  only  knows. 

Von  Jagow 
The  machine. 

Enter  the  Professor. 

Chancellor 
Yes,  the  machine. 

Professor  {shaking  hands  with  Von  Jagow) 

Ah,  the  machine.  Have  you  read  "Franken- 
stein"? 

Both 

No. 


II.]  Missing  Links  163 

Professor 

"Frankenstein"  was  a  conception  of  Shelley's 
wife.  A  German  student  working  away  with  the 
mysteries  of  life  is  able  to  infuse  it  into  a  figure 
he  has  made,  with  terrible  results.  It  is  like  a  sym- 
bolic vision  of  Germany  of  to-day.  We  have  in- 
fused life  into  a  huge  machine,  and  its  wheels  and 
cables  go  whirling  on  and  we  are  too  weak  and 
small 'to  stop  them.  Its  huge  arms,  like  those  of 
Frankenstein's  monster,  smite  us  if  we  go  near 
them. 

Enter  the  Kaiser. 

\The  Professor  bows,  and  is  about  to  retire. 

Kaiser 

Professor,  I  want  to  see  you  later. 

[Exit  the  Professor. 

{Going  over  to  Von  Jagow  and  shaking  his  finger 
in  mock  anger  at  him.)  Jagow,  I  hear  you  have  used 
the  word  "Peace."  [Von  Jagow  looks  guilty. 

Yes,  Sir.  You  know  that  word  has  been  struck 
out  of  the  German  vocabulary.  God,  what  a  pack 
of  idiots  we  shall  look  to  posterity!  We  are  all  sick 
of  this  senseless  war,  and  all  want  peace,  and, 
though  we  have  courage  to  face  every  instrument 
of  torture  our  engineers  have  been  able  to  devise, 
not  one  of  us  has  the  courage  to  say,  "Enough,  let 
us  stop,"  which  must  be  the  feeling  at  the  bottom 
of  the  heart  of  every  man  In  Europe  who  is  not  an 
abject  idiot.  Wait  in  Etting's  room. 

[Exit  VoN  Jagow. 


1^4  The  Sands  of  Fate  [ii. 

{To  the  Chancellor.)  Have  you  read  that  letter 
from  Dernburg?  It  is  very  sensible,  is  n't  it? 

Chancellor 

Very. 

Kaiser 

What's  the  use  of  keeping  him  there?  I  don't  see 
the  use  of  any  of  our  diplomacy.  If  Dernburg  can't 
do  anything,  it  is  beyond  achievement.  He  has 
more  brains  than  the  whole  German  diplomatic 
corps  combined.  I  should  never  have  listened  to 
you  all. 

Chancellor 

I  hope  Your  Majesty  does  not  include  me. 

ICaiser 

No,  Bethmann,  I  will  do  you  the  justice  of  say- 
ing you  backed  me.  Poor  Dernburg!  Do  you  re- 
member his  first  official  dinner?  I  chaffed  him 
about  tucking  his  serviette  round  his  neck.  "What 
ho,  Dernburg!  Going  to  be  shaved?"  Poor  chap! 
I  was  sorry  afterwards.  He  looked  so  humiliated. 
I  remember  a  great  Republican  politician  before 
your  time,  Bethmann,  a  clever  fellow.  We  christ- 
ened him  "Old  Hurricane."  He  could  not  eat  his 
soup  or  blow  his  nose  or  cough  or  sneeze  without 
making  such  a  racket  that  we  all  had  to  wait  till 
it  was  over.  I  liked  him.  When  I  was  sounded 
about  his  appointment  as  Ambassador  to  Berlin, 
however,  I  had  to  give  way  to  the  objection  to  his 
deplorable  manners.  Yet  that  man,  like  Dernburg, 


II.]  Missing  Links  165 

could  have  doubled  up  all  the  diplomatic  tribe  of 
Europe  if  he  had  had  a  tussle  with  them.  What 
a  huge  place  trifles  like  these  play  in  the  world! 
Except  in  war-time,  Bethmann;  war  is  a  wonder- 
ful leveller.  You  don't  kill  your  enemy  with  line 
manners.  That's  what  made  Napoleon  great.  He 
cared  only  for  merit.  So  do  I.  The  English  can 
afford  to  keep  up  the  old  system  of  patronage,  and 
allow  themselves  the  luxury  of  an  alliance  between 
feudalism  and  demagogues.  We  can't,  Bethmann. 
It  has  brought  England  to  the  brink  of  ruin.  This 
war  has  saved  her,  reluctant  as  she  has  been  to  al- 
low herself  to  be  influenced  by  merit  and  ability  in 
her  selection  of  men.  That  little  devil  Jellicoe  has 
dished  us.  Tirpitz  is  like  you,  Bethmann.  You  are 
both  too  tall.  Tall  men  are  no  good  in  war-time  — 
their  wits  are  too  slow.  Good  enough  for  the  Staff 
in  peace-time.  Old  Fritz  had  big  men  to  do  the 
fighting  because  they  were  too  stupid  and  slow- 
witted  to  run  away,  but  he  took  care  to  put  little 
devils  in  command  of  them  —  a  clever  little  devil 
himself  was  Old  Fritz.  By  the  by,  Bethmann,  in- 
struct Dernburg  to  come  back  at  once.  [Pause. 
Is  Bulow  here? 

Chancellor 
Yes,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

Send  him  in.  [Exit  the  Chancellor. 

[The  Kaiser  walks  up  and  down  in  contem- 
plation. 


1 66  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

Enter  Prince  von  Bulow. 

I  have  made  up  my  mind.  We  must  have  peace 
—  not  at  any  price  —  no  —  but  peace. 

Von  BiJLow 
But  if  Italy  joins  the  AlUes? 

Kaiser 

She  must  not  join  the  Allies.  Biilow,  you  will 
have  to  promise  her  everything  she  asks  for  rather 
than  let  her.  Tell  Burian  I  want  peace  as  much  as 
he  does.  If  Italy  goes  against  us,  God  only  knows 
when  the  war  will  end.  Promise  her  Trieste,  the 
Trentino,  Valona.  What  else  can  she  want? 

VoN  BuLOW 
That  is  already  a  great  deal.  Sir. 

Kaiser 
Won't  that  satisfy  her? 

Von  BiJLow 
None  of  It  is  ours  to  promise,  Sir. 

Kaiser 

Promise  It  all  the  same,  Biilow,  — '  I  '11  make  Aus- 
tria-Hungary agree.  Damn  her,  what  right  has  she 
to  raise  difficulties? 

VoN  Bulow 

Sonnino,  Sir,  demands  immediate  performance; 
he  wants  immediate  possession. 


II-]  Missing  Links  167 

Kaiser 

Does  he  not  trust  our  word?  If  I  say  he  shall 
have  it,  is  n't  that  enough  ?  Good  God,  surely  my 
word  —  more  than  word  —  my  sign  manual,  Ger- 
many's bond,  is  good  enough. 

Von  Bulow 

No,  Sir!  He  thinks  we  may  not  be  able,  or  willing, 
to  fulfil  any  arrangement  made  under  pressure  of 
necessity. 

Kaiser 
God  help  us! 

Von  Bulow 
Italian  public  opinion  disbelieves  our  promises. 

Kaiser 
Italy  does  not  respect  her  own. 

VoN  Bulow 

That  only  makes  her  the  more  suspicious.  Son- 
nino  will  agree  to  nothing  without  immediate  exe- 
cution. 

Kaiser 

Does  he  think  we  shall  wriggle  out  of  our  engage- 
ments after  the  war  is  over? 

VoN  Bulow 

I  don't  think.  Sir,  he  goes  so  far  as  that.  But 
he  knows  that,  when  the  Powers  meet  to  discuss 


1 68  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

peace,  whatever  the  prehminaries  may  be,  there 
are  so  many  interests  involved  that  prehminaries, 
engagements,  even  treaties  entered  into,  pendente 
lite,  have  httle  chance  of  being  upheld  tels  quels. 
All  will  go  into  the  melting-pot,  except  organised 
possession. 

Kaiser 

But  if  we  gave  them  possession,  how  should  we 
know  they  would  not  all  the  same  find  a  pretext  for 
not  observing  the  promises  they  made? 

Von  Bulow 

This  mutual  distrust,  I  fear,  will  cause  a  dead- 
lock. 

Kaiser 

I  can't  think  matters  are  so  bad  as  you  fear. 
Billow.  Promise  Germany's  absolute  guarantee  of 
execution.  They  can't  ask  us  to  have  more  trust 
in  them  than  they  have  in  us. 

Von  BiJLow 

May  I  ask  Your  Majesty's  instructions  for  the 
alternative  case  of  refusal  by  Italy? 

Kaiser 

Separate  peace  between  Austria-Hungary  and 
Russia.  You  can  tell  Burian  that  on  your  way 
back.  [VoN  BiJLOW  looks  incredulous. 

You  look  incredulous,  Biilow,  but  I  think  Russia 
must  want  peace.  Well,  it  is  a  race  now.  If  Burian 
gets  peace  with  Russia  before  Italy  mobilises,  we 


II.]  Missing  Links  169 

win.  If  Italy  mobilises  before  he  gets  that  peace  — 
by  God,  Biilow,  I  fear  we  shall  lose.  —  Now,  you 
know  my  intentions.  The  fate  of  Germany  is  in 
your  hands.  They  are  capable  hands,  Biilow.  With 
God's  help  you  will  win.  Bear  in  mind  I  want  peace 
as  soon  as  possible.  Impress  on  Sonnino  the  gravity 
of  his  decision.  It  may  mean  war  for  years.  It 
may  mean  the  bombarding  of  Venice,  the  de- 
struction of  Italy's  cathedrals  and  palaces.  It  may 
mean  Belgium  over  again  in  Italy. 

Von  Bulow 

Political  Italy,  Sir,  is  opportunist.  Cavour's  op- 
portunism made  her  and  opportunist  she  remains. 

ICaiser 

Well,  use  the  arguments  you  can,  but  for  the  sake 

of  Germany,  for  the  sake  of  your  Kaiser,  I  pray 

God's  help  you  may  succeed.  Good-bye,  Biilow. 

[Exit  VoN  BiJLOw  and  the  Chancellor. 

The  Kaiser  sinks  into  an  armchair^  and 

buries  his  head  in  his  hands. 


curtain 


ACT  III 

The  Kaiser's  private  study  at  Imperial  Schloss  at 
Berlin. 

Old  Man  and  Maid  tidying.  Old  Man  in  half- 
livery,  taking  up  calendar. 

Old  Man 

See  the  date? 

Maid 

Yes  — 6th  May. 

[Tearing  off  the  sheets  of  the  calendar. 

Old  Man 
What's  today? 

Maid 

Sunday. 

Old  Man 

Nice  Sunday's  work!  {Pause.)  Did  n't  you  see 
the  fly-sheet,  last  night? 

Maid 

What  is  a  fly-sheet? 

Old  Man 

Lokal-Jnzeiger  scattered  them  free  all  along 
Unter  den  Linden  from  their  motor-van.  Italy  mo- 
bilised. War  to  be  declared  to-day. 

{Tearing  off  the  sheets  of  the  calendar  and 
leaving  it  at  2^d  May. 


III.]  Missing  Links  171 

Maid 

I  say  the  more  fools  they.  Why  do  they  want 
war,  when  they  can  keep  out  of  it  ?  There  will  be  no 
more  wars  when  women  get  the  vote. 

Old  Man  {amazed) 
Why,  you  are  not  a  suffragette? 

Maid 
But  I  am. 

Old  Man 

It's  as  good  as  your  place  to  be  a  suffragette 
here. 

Maid 

Maybe.  I  was  n't,  but  I  am  now.  I  'm  anything 
you  like  that's  against  war.  I  have  three  brothers 
in  the  Army — that  is,  I  had.  One's  killed  {sits 
dozvn  and  puts  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes)  —  but 
what's  the  use  of  crying?  One's  invalided  and  the 
other's  in  the  trenches,  God  knows  where.  I'm 
a  Socialist  too,  if  you  want  to  know,  old  man,  a  red- 
hot  Socialist. 

Old  Man 

But  it's  as  good  as  your  place. 

Maid 

Shut  up!  {Halfs  Maul!)  I  have  ceased  to  care 
whether  I  have  a  place  or  not.  Karl 's  not  been 
heard  of  for  three  months. 

{Choking  and  dusting  violently. 


172  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Old  Man 
Poor  girl!  Were  you  engaged? 

Maid 
I  was  going  to  be. 

Old  Man 
Oh,  he'll  turn  up.  Most  of  'em  turn  up. 

Maid 
No  such  luck!  This  awful  war! 

Old  Man 

Don't  say  anything  against  the  war,  my  girl. 
It's  as  good  as  your  place. 

[The  Maid  looks  at  him  inquiringly. 
(Nods  to  her,  whispering.)   If  it  goes  on  much 
longer,  there  will  be  trouble. 

[Noise  outside  the  door. 

Maid 
Look  out !  {Achtung  !) 

Old  Man  {on  steps,  winding  up  clock) 
Look  out  o'  window  and  see  the  time. 

Maid 
9.30- 

Enter  Von  Etting  with  despatch-box. 
[Exeunt  Maid  and  the  Old  Man  with  steps. 


III.]  Missing  Links  i73 

Von  Etting  {opening  despatch-box  and  yawning  — 
unfolding  and  reading  a  large  sheet  in  large 
handwriting  —  muttering  slowly) 

Same  old  crew!  Ballin,  Professor,  Helfferlch, 
Gwlnner.  [Yawning  again. 

Enter  the  Crown  Prince  —  handshaking. 
Crown  Prince 
I  say  this  is  beastly  bad  news  about  Italy. 

Von  Etting 
I  Ve  ceased  to  think  anything  matters. 

Crown  Prince 
When  do  you  expect  His  Majesty? 

Von  Etting 

We  arrived  late  last  night  at  Potsdam.  I  came 
on  by  the  early  express;  so  I  have  only  had  forty 
winks  in  the  train. 

Crown  Prince 
What  does  His  Majesty  say? 

Von  Etting 

Hopes,  hopes  still,  probably,  Italy's  only  bluff- 
ing. 

Crown  Prince 

It's  awful,  this  optimism  —  a  national  calamity. 
I  can  do  nothing.  We  have  to  face  the  fact  that 
we're  beaten,  Etting,  and  His  Majesty  can't  see  it. 


174  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Von  Etting 

I  'm  afraid  I  don't  see  it  either.  I  think  it  is  we 
the  bHndlings  who  engineered  the  war  who  are 
beaten.  My  eyes  are  opened. 

Crown  Prince 

We  who  engineered  the  war!  Why,  Etting,  the 
war  had  been  engineered  for  ten  years  back. 

Von  Etting 
Well,  we  pressed  the  button. 

Crown  Prince 

What's  the  use  of  discussing  who's  to  blame 
now.f'  I  think  the  peacemakers  are  chiefly  to  blame. 
It  was  they  who  gave  us  a  false  sense  of  security, 
the  brutes !  [Von  Etting,  smiling. 

Etting,  you  bore  me.  You  're  so  changed.  [Pause. 

What's  that  fiend  Wilson  up  to? 

Von  Etting 
The  Lusitania! 

Crown  Prince 

It  will  be  madness  to  cave  in.  Tirpitz  says  if  we 
do,  he'll  have  to  resign.  Now  we've  defied  'em  we 
must  stand  firm.  We  shall  have  to  fix  up  the  reply 
to-day.  .  .  .  Anyhow,  Etting,  His  Majesty  lets  me 
have  a  say  in  things  now. 

Von  Etting 

Tirpitz  says  his  orders  could  n't  be  counter- 
manded. 


III.]  Missing  Links  175 

Crown  Prince 

Could  n't  be  countermanded?  He  admits  the 
orders  then. 

VoN  Etting 

That's  just  It.  The  machine  —  the  terrible  ma- 
chine, Highness !  When  an  order  goes  out  it  is  exe- 
cuted to  the  letter,  to  the  minute,  and  nothing  can 
stop  it.  This  war  has  taught  me  to  loathe  the  ma- 
chine. Prince  Biilow  gave  me  "Frankenstein"  to 
read. 

Crown  Prince 
What's  "Frankenstein".? 

Von  Etting 

It's  good  to  go  to  sleep  on.  I'll  give  you  the 
Prince's  copy.  "Frankenstein"  is  a  description  of 
the  German  machine  of  to-day  written  a  century 
ago  by  Shelley's  wife. 

Crown  Prince 
Who's  Shelley.? 

Von  Etting 

Shelley,  Highness,  was  an  English  poet  and  a 
friend  of  Byron. 

Crown  Prince 

Afraid  my  education's  been  neglected.  I  remem- 
ber reading  that  Johnnie's  "Don  Juan"  on  the 
sly.   When  the  war  's  over,  Etting,  I  'm  going  to 


1/6  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

"improve  each  shining  hour."   That's  an  EngHsh 
quotation.   Is  it  Shakespeare? 

[Von  Etting  smiling. 
Damn  it,  Etting,  you  have  n't  the  misfortune 
to  be  born  a  Royal  Prince.  You  have  no  idea  what 
a  handicap  it  is  in  Hfe.  I  very  nearly  chucked  it 
and  wish  I  had  n't  yielded  to  persuasion.  {Both 
yawning.)  No  ambition  —  no  .  .  . 

[Von  Etting  has  begun  to  breathe  heavily. 

Poor  chap,  dead  tired.       [Rises  and  quietly  exit. 

[Pause.  Noise  of  conversation  outside  door. 

Crown  Prince  {outside) 

This  is  the  only  room  ready  as  yet.   Herr  von 
Etting  is  taking  a  rest  there. 

(VoN  Etting)  jumping  to  his  feet 
Come  in. 

Enter  the  Professor  and  Ballin  —  handshaking. 

Excuse  me.    I  must  see  about  several  things. 
We're  all  maids-of-all-work  just  now.  [Exit. 

[Ballin  sits  dozvn. 

Professor 

That  wretched  Lusitania  affair  has  done  us  in- 
finite harm. 

Ballin 
Yes,  more  harm  than  a  defeat. 

Professor 
More  harm  than  a  defeat?  If  that  were  all! 


III.]  Missing  Links  177 

Ballin 

Yes,  It  has  completely  dished  us  In  America. 
Not  that  It  was  Illegal.  There  are  plenty  of  argu- 
ments to  justify  the  sinking  of  a  ship  laden  with 
ammunition  for  the  enemy.  But  It  was  just  the 
one  thing  to  avoid  doing,  especially  after  having 
threatened  it. 

Professor  {surprised) 
Why,  especially.^ 

Ballin 

Because  the  threat  had  no  effect  and  showed 
American  public  opinion  gave  us  credit  for  more 
humanity  in  deed  than  in  word.  We  pitched  that 
good  repute  overboard  and  to  destroy  ammunition 
that  would  n't  have  sufficed  to  level  a  few  yards  of 
wire  entanglements  we  sacrificed  in  cold  blood  hun- 
dreds of  innocent  lives. 

Professor 
We  are  too  brutally  frank,  Ballin. 

Ballin  {violently) 

Call  it  frank  If  you  like.  If  It  Is  frank  to  do  devilry 
merely  because  you  have  threatened  It,  frankness 
be  damned !  Besides,  it  has  started  a  new  national 
hatred. 

Professor  {walking  up  and  down  the  room) 

National  hatred  Is  stronger  than  governments. 
It  takes  policy  and  attempts  at  conciliation  ages 


178  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

to  overcome.  The  hatred  of  the  French  for  the  Eng- 
lish who  devastated  Anjou  and  Touraine  Hved  on 
for  centuries  and  it  is  only  now  that  the  Entente  is 
effacing  the  memory  of  the  ruins  of  villages  and 
towns  which  the  English  sacked  and  destroyed  in 
their  dynastic  wars.  The  Germans  of  the  Rhine- 
land  and  the  Palatinate  never  forgave  the  French, 
who  left  their  country  in  ruins.  The  French  Em- 
pire eventually  paid  for  it  at  Leipzig  and  Waterloo. 
The  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese  still  at  the  pres- 
ent day  hate  the  French  for  the  Peninsular  war. 
Have  the  Poles  or  Magyars  ever  forgiven  the  Rus- 
sians.^ or  the  Irish  the  English? 

Ballin 

I  don't  dispute  what  you  say.  But  the  Boers 
seem  to  have  forgiven  the  English  in  spite  of  the 
twenty  thousand  women  and  children  of  the  con- 
centration camps. 

Professor 

The  English  knew  It  or  rather  felt  It  and  lost  so 
little  time  in  granting  them  free  government  that 
the  same  generation  that  suffered  absorbed  the 
antidote.  That  was  what  saved  South  Africa  for 
the  British  Empire. 

Ballin 

They  are  a  marvellous  people,  Professor,  In  spite 
of  their  stupidity!  But  I  must  not  say  that  or  I 
shall  be  lynched  as  a  Pro-Englander  for  telling  the 
truth. 


in-]  Missing  Links  179 

Professor 

You  would  be  In  good  company  anyhow  and  not 
between  two  larrons. 

Ballin 

Pas  bete^  cher  professeur,  bien  que  dur: 

Professor 
Pardon,  I  forgot. 

Ballin 

It's  all  right.  No  sensible  conversation  is  pos- 
sible if  one  has  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  people's 
prejudices.  Well,  you  were  speaking  of  national 
hatreds.   What  about  the  Belgians  ? 

Professor 

Yes,  we  shall  have  to  do  something  great  as  an 
antidote  among  the  existing  generation.  Other- 
wise, we  shall  have  all  the  fierceness  of  the  Polish 
hatred  on  our  western  as  on  our  eastern  and  south- 
eastern flank,  for  Bohemia  is  another  case  of  bun- 
gling procrastination. 

Ballin 
But  what  can  we  do.f* 

Professor 

Yes,  what !  (Smiling.)  I  hope  His  Majesty  won't 
undertake  the  rebuilding  himself. 

Ballin 

You  know  I  have  never  been  able  to  see  His 
Majesty's  architectural  blunders.   I'm  such  a  fool 


i8o  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

In  matters  of  art  that  I  honestly  confess  I  do  not 
disHke  even  the  Sieges-Allee.  I  suppose  it's  my  in- 
herited Jewish  respect  for  the  kicks  with  which 
those  swashbucklers  exacted  toll  from  us.    [Pause. 

Professor 

Belgium's  not  the  only  problem.  We  shall  have 
to  face  an  equally,  if  not  more,  difficult  problem  at 
home.  Public  opinion  is  extraordinarily  docile.  It 
swallows  any  patriotic  balderdash  just  now,  but 
there  is  a  radical  minority  on  the  watch  for  its 
chance. 

Ballin 
It's  going  strong  In  the  north. 

Professor 

Yes,  and  In  all  movements  of  public  opinion  the 
swing  of  action  and  reaction  makes  it  safe  to  count 
on  the  spreading  of  the  view  of  a  strong  and  em- 
phatic minority  who  take  diametrically  the  op- 
posite view  from  that  of  the  majority.  The  prob- 
ability Is  that  the  ultimate  view  of  public  opinion 
will  come  to  be  nearer  the  at  present  most  unpopu- 
lar view. 

Ballin 

Which  view  In  your  opinion  Is  the  view  at  pres- 
ent most  unpopular  .f* 

Professor 

I  suppose  It  would  be  Liebknecht's.  It  was  the 
same  In  England  after  the  Boer  War.  Few  English 


HI.]  Missing  Links  i8i 

'  '  '  1 

writers  have  time  to  think  before  they  write.  If 
they  take  time  to  think,  the  pubhc  forgets  or 
'  won't  read  them.  Well,  some  of  these  superficial 
popular  writers  have  supposed  that  the  majority  of 
the  English  elected  the  Khaki  Parliament  because 
they  were  against  relieving  the  Unioni&t  Govern- 
ment of  responsibility.  If  I  have  read  English  his- 
tory aright,  that  is  not  at  all  the  way  British  pub- 
lic opinion  works,  and  German  public  opinion  is 
likely  to  follow  in  its  footsteps. 

Ballin 
Do  you  mean  follow  its  example? 

Professor 

No,  I  distinguish  between  following  an  example 
and  stepping  the  same  way  on  similar  ground. 

Ballin 

Yes,  I  see;  {laughing)  "as  on  stones  across  a 
stream." 

Professor 

Well  said,  Ballin.  That's  just  what  I  mean. 
Emphasis  tends  to  arouse  counter-emphasis,  and 
the  popular  imagination  is  so  sluggish  that  It  takes 
its  cue  from  any  plausible  emphatic  prompter. 
Now,  Liebknecht  is  a  plausible  fellow  and  he  has 
the  prestige  of  the  man  who  grimly  faces  the  Devil. 

Ballin 
The  Devil! 


i82  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 


Professor 

Yes,  to  face  a  vast  and  threatening  multitude 
undaunted  is  facing  the  Devil.  You  are  not  likely 
to  get  nearer  hell  in  this  life  or  hereafter. 

Ballin 

That's  what  we  have  to  fear,  you  think.  Have  n't 
you  a  "penchant"  towards  these  heretics,  Profes- 
sor? 

Professor 

No,  Ballin,  none.  I  think  efficient  middle-class 
government  fulfils  the  highest  aims  of  govern- 
ment, but  I  loathe  all  exaggeration  and  between 
exaggerations  I  prefer  Liebknecht  to  brute  force. 

Ballin 

But  he  is  alone  —  the  one  man  who  dares  to  ex- 
press his  view. 

Professor 

Pardon  me  —  you  don't  know  that.  What  you 
do  know  Is,  that  he  alone  has  had  the  courage  to 
stand  firm.  While  thousands  upon  thousands  may 
have  felt  as  he  does  —  may  have  revolted  against 
inhuman,  uncharitable,  narrow-minded  oppression 
—  none  of  them  has  had  the  fearless  indifference 
to  threats  and  public  condemnation  of  this  one 
frail  man.  His  disciples  have  slipped  away  in  the 
dark,  and  only  a  few  women  .  .  .  There  Is  nothing, 
however,  so  dangerous  to  the  world's  progress  as 
the  political  visionary.    There  is  logic,  however 


III.]  Missing  Links  183 

obscure,  in  the  sequence  of  events,  and  the  same 
law  of  causes  and  effects  appHes  throughout  all  the 
things  of  this  world,  where  everything  is  symbolical 
of  everything  else.  But  I  say  causes  and  effects 
because  you  cannot  in  the  affairs  of  mankind  isolate 
any  or  either.  If  you  pick  up  red-hot  embers,  you 
know  what  will  be  the  immediate  consequence.  If 
you  lie  across  the  rails  when  an  express  train  is  due, 
you  know  the  risk.  Visionaries  always  think  the 
law  of  causes  and  effects  so  simple  that  it  can  be 
managed  or  be  suspended  like  an  act  of  Parliament. 
To  decline  the  trouble  of  looking  closely  into  lateral 
facts,  and  in  order  not  to  see  all  round  to  have  one's 
eyes  rivetted  on  particular  points,  is  the  sign  of  the 
visionary.  Most  of  our  so-called  statesmen  are  vis- 
ionaries without  knowing  it.  This  war  is  the  work 
of  visionaries  who  either  were  too  lazy  to  think 
about  it  or  too  incapable  of  foreseeing  and  avoid- 
ing it  or  estimating  its  possible  consequences.  They 
are  practically  all  of  them  what  the  French  call 
Simplistes. 

Ballin 
Yet  the  greatest  statesmen  have  all  had  but  one 
object  in  view  and  one  way  of  accomplishing  it. 
Look  at  Bismarck.  He  had  one  object —  to  create 
a  German  Empire  —  and  one  method  of  doing  it  — 
to  raise  a  gigantic  and  powerful  army  and  get  there 
by  force.  He  staked  all  and  won  all.  Luck! 

Professor 
Yes,  luck.  Occasional  successes  are  the  curse  of 
blindlings  in  power.  Like  gamblers  they  think  they 


1 84  The  Sands  of  Fate  [ni. 

must  win.  They  think  Fate  can  be  dodged  by 
trickery.  Bismarck  really  deserved  to  fail.  Moltke 
and  his  generals  only  won  because  their  opponents 
were  still  more  cocksure. 


Ballin 


And  Napoleon? 


Professor 

Napoleon  was  a  great  civilian,  and,  knowing  at 
first  very  little  about  war  as  a  whole,  beat  the 
wiseacres  who  thought  it  was  a  game  with  a  code 
of  rules  which  would  be  observed  by  the  players. 
Napoleon  would  n't  go  out  when  his  wickets  were 
down,  as  the  English  would  say.  But  he  was  beaten 
at  Waterloo  by  a  general  far  inferior  to  him,  be- 
cause he  was  too  cocksure  of  winning  and  under- 
estimated the  dogged  pertinacity  of  his  enemy.  We 
are  having  Napoleon's  luck  in  the  present  war,  and 
we  are  exposed  to  the  same  failure  in  the  end.  Ger- 
many has  been  intoxicated  by  her  success  and  she 
will  have  her  Waterloo  in  due  course. 

Ballin 

Good  God !  you  don't  think  we  shall  be  defeated ! 
.  .  .  History  never  repeats  itself. 

Professor 

History  does  repeat  itself,  but  never  in  identical 
terms.  Just  think  that  all  the  piles  of  European 
music  are  variations  of  an  octave.  Yet  the  scale 
of  human  motives  is  .  .  . 


in.]  Missing  Links  185 

Ballin 
Goethe  reduced  them  to  thirty-six,  did  n't  he? 

Professor 

So  be  It.  The  proportion  Is  quite  large,  enough. 
Her  Waterloo  will  not  be  a  decisive  battle,  but  a 
decisive  war. 

Ballin 

It  does  n't  look  like  it.  We  have  proceeded  from 
conquest  to  conquest  since  its  beginning. 

Professor 

Conquests  will  be  our  undoing.  They  extend  our 
lines  and  use  up  our  men  in  the  maintenance  of 
occupation  armies.  If  Italy  joins  the  enemy,  how- 
ever, we  shall  have  an  advantage.  Austria-Hun- 
gary will  be  able  to  utilise  against  Italy  Slav  troops 
she  no  longer  dares,  after  their  wholesale  surrenders, 
to  use  against  Russia. 

Ballin 

That's  true.  I  wonder  if  our  diplomacy  has 
thought  of  this. 

Professor 
Our  diplomacy!  Those  well-bred  officials  . . . 

Ballin 
Well,  Billow.  He's  a  diplomatist! 


1 86  The  Sands  of  Fate  [ni. 


Professor 

Yes,  Biilow,  but  that  is  because  he  knows  Eu- 
rope as  a  private  person.  Diplomatists  should  have 
special  go-as-you-like  missions  from  time  to  time  to 
enable  them  to  visit  countries  and  know  their  peo- 
ple, like  private  persons.  A  diplomatist  is  a  man 
who  goes  about  with  a  danger  warning  on  his  well- 
brushed  top  hat.  He  is  like  the  husband  in  the 
play,  the  last  man  to  see  the  decoration  sprouting 
from  his  own  temples.  The  ignorance  of  statesmen 
about  the  social  conditions  of  neighbouring  coun- 
tries is  still  more  astonishing.  It  is  now  practically 
certain  that  the  Russian  Government  did  not 
mobilise  against  Germany,  but  against  the  strikes 
which  were  convulsing  the  country  while  that  mis- 
chievous idiot  Hartwig  was  encouraging  the  Ser- 
bians to  defy  and  excite  Austria-Hungary.  We 
saved  Russia  from  revolution  by  declaring  war  on 
her. 

Ballin 

And  perhaps  saved  ourselves! 

Professor 

You  have  said  it.  This  war  chimed  with  the 
needs  of  most  governments.  But  it  will  have  served 
the  purpose  of  none  —  none,  my  dear  Ballin,  none. 
{A  pause.)  Its  most  likely  consequence  will  be  a 
social  and  anti-governmental  upheaval  throughout 
Europe.  That's  why  it  will  be  very  difficult  for 
governments  to  make  peace,  and  the  longer  the  war 
lasts  the  greater  will  be  the  difficulty.  Revolution 


Ill 


.]  Missing  Links  187 


is  terribly  contagious.  Besides,  war  brings  out  the 
worst  features  of  class  government,  the  contrast 
between  those  who  are  giving  their  Hves  and  those 
who  are  feathering  their  nests.  You  don't  suppose 
the  men  at  the  front  don't  see  it!  On  the  contrary 
—  quite  the  contrary.  That's  the  coming  danger, 
the  really  great  danger,  my  friend.  Bethmann  has 
the  official  blindness  for  unorthodox  facts  and  is 
jogging  along  on  his  regulation  nag,  making  his 
daily  rounds  as  if  peace  was  as  easy  a  proposition 
as  war.  Any  idiot  can  destroy.  It  will  take  more 
brains  than  Bethmann  and  Hindenburg  between 
them  possess  by  a  long  way  to  plan  out  the  founda- 
tions of  the  palace  of  peace.  Besides,  the  repatria- 
tion of  millions  of  citizens  —  the  return  to  their 
homes  of  men  who,  after  having  risked  their  lives, 
...  no,  my  dear  fellow  —  no  —  changes,  enormous 
social  changes  are  impending.  Social  values  all 
round  will  have  to  be  readjusted  and  it's  the  classes 
will  pay. 

Ballin 
It's  been  a  sad  mistake. 

Professor 

It  is  always  a  mistake  to  turn  the  subsoil  of  so- 
cial faith  or  tamper  with  the  foundations  of  political 
institutions  at  all.  Religion  and  political  tradition 
are  equally  matters  of  faith.  People  have  lost  faith 
in  their  rulers. 

Ballin 

And  if  they  did  n't  deserve  It? 


1 88  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Professor 
They  never  have :  that 's  why  faith  was  necessary. 

Ballin 
Yes,  you  are  ...  ah!  [Door  thrown  open. 

Enter  the  Kaiser  hurriedly. 

Kaiser 

Glad  to  see  you.  {Irritably.)  Where  the  devil's 
Etting.? 

VoN  Etting  {hurrying  in  from  side  door) 
Not  far  off,  Sir.   I  was  asleep. 

Kaiser 
Asleep!  What  did  you  do  all  night? 

VoN  Etting 

Spent  five  hours  at  the  station  at  Potsdam  wait- 
ing for  the  early  express. 

Kaiser 

My  poor  Etting!  You  might  have  been  put  up 
at  Potsdam.  I  'm  dead  tired  myself. 

[Sitting  at  desk,  touching  button  and  taking  up 
the  receiver. 
Is  that  you,  Bethmann.^'  I  have  just  arrived. 
What  news  of  Italy.''  What.f*  Declared  war  against 
Austria-Hungary  only.  Come.  Yes,  come.  Yes, 
come  at  once.  {Rises  like  one  in  a  dream.  Sinks 
into  an  armchair.  Sits  staring  at  vacancy.  Sile?it 
pause.)    Against  Austria-Hungary  only! 

[The  Kaiser  rises  in  silence  and  walks  out. 


Ill 


.]  Missing  Links  189 


Professor 

It's  a  terrible  blow  to  His  Majesty.  He  has  never 
taken  the  Italians  seriously  —  thought  them  al- 
ways spoilt  children  who  would  bluster  and  bully 
till  he  took  down  the  whip. 

Ballin 

We  are  up  against  awful  odds,  Professor.  I  see 
no  issue  —  nothing  but  humiliation.  It's  been  a 
colossal  mistake,  from  first  to  last. 

Professor 

We  are  all  pigmies,  Ballin.  And  while  the  ma- 
chine has  grown  in  size  and  complication,  the  hu- 
man soul  has  remained  stationary,  where  it  has  not 
degenerated.  We  are  like  that  human  photograph 
which  was  in  vogue  a  few  years  ago  —  a  photograph 
of  superposed  photographs  of  men  —  in  which  a 
blurred  image  was  supposed  to  represent  a  type.  We 
are  just  that  blurred  type.  Artificial  selection  by 
standards  of  examination  has  produced  regiments 
of  the  same  soulless  beings,  all  possessing  the  same 
knowledge,  all  taught  to  have  the  same  tastes  and 
ambitions  and  to  take  the  same  view  of  life  and 
things.  The  individual  soul  has  been  merged  in  a 
blurred  soul  as  the  individual  physique  is  merged 
in  the  blurred  photograph. 

Ballin 

Yes,  there  are  no  great  men  in  politics.  We  are 
governed  by  men  of  merely  average  minds. 


190  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Professor 
But  there  are  no  great  minds  on  any  subject. 

Ballin 

Pardon  me  —  in  Industry. 

[The  Professor  surprised. 

Yes,  Professor.  Just  because  there  is  no  stand- 
ardising of  the  mind  in  industry  it  has  gone  for- 
ward. 

Professor 

Perhaps  —  and  the  appreciation  of  science  by 
industrials  has  encouraged  scientific  research. 

Enter  the  Chancellor. 

Chancellor 

His  Majesty  is  taking  a  rest.  Schultze  condemns 
him  to  isolation  till  to-morrow. 

Professor 
He  must  feel  the  Italian  defection  terribly. 

Chancellor 

No,  His  Majesty  takes  it  quite  cheerfully. 
They've  declared  war  only  against  Austria-Hun- 
gary, you  see.  {Reflecting.)  The  despatch  from 
Billow  has  been  deciphered.  It  is  all  right  as  re- 
gards Germany. 

Ballin 

How  can  they  be  at  war  with  Austria-Hungary 
and  at  peace  with  us.'* 


I"-]  Missing  Links  191 

Professor 

Machiavellian  conjuring,  my  dear  Ballin.  The 
"heads-I-win-tails-you-lose"  trick.  Biilow  will 
choose  the  coin,  you  may  be  sure.  There's  such  a 
thing  as  being  too  clever. 

Chancellor 

All  the  same  it  means  an  enemy  the  more. 
{Pause.)  Ballin,  Professor,  do  you  realise  that 
Germany's  bleeding  to  death  .  .  . 

[All  three  standing  in  contemplation;  then  the 
Chancellor  exit. 

Professor 

What  a  tangle!  Good  God,  what  a  tangle! 

[Light  their  cigars,  exeunt 


CURTAIN 


PART  III 
IN   GREMIO  DEORUM 

{BERLIN,  ig—) 


DRAMATIS  PERSONS 

PART  III 

The  Kaiser. 

The  Kaiserin. 

Dr.  Kaempf,  President  of  the  Reichstag. 

Dr.  Liebknecht,  Member  of  the  Reichstag. 

Herr  Ballin,  General  Manager  of  the  Hamburg- 
Amerika  Steamship  Company. 

The  Professor. 

Herr  von  Etting,  Private  Secretary  to  the  Kaiser. 

Prince  von  Bulow,  who  has  been  appointed  Im- 
perial Chancellor  after  several  attempts  to  get 
along  without  him. 

Nurse  Nelson,  widow  of  an  American  German, 
who  has  resumed  her  Anglo-Saxon  name. 

Court  Chamberlain. 

Geheimrath  von  Schultze,  Royal  Physician. 

Members  of  the  Reichstag,  Officers,  Police, 
and  Numerous  Lay  Figures. 


PART  III 
IN  GREMIO  DEORUM 

ACT  I 

SCENE  I 

Hospital  in  Berlin,  very  much  like  an  Anglo-Saxon 
military  hospital  —  rows  of  beds;  men  with  legs 
raised  on  their  beds  smoking  cigarettes;  flowers; 
nurses,  smart  and  lively,  moving  noiselessly  about  and 
attending  to  patients  in  different  ways. 

Nurse  Nelson,  American,  speaking  with  an 
English  wounded  prisoner. 

Nurse  Nelson 
Well,  now  It's  out,  do  you  feel  better? 

English  Prisoner 

Feels  the  same  still,  but  that'll  pass  off.  You 
always  feel  a  wound  for  a  time,  you  know. 

Nurse  Nelson 

I  ought  to  know.  I  went  through  two  Balkan 
wars.  My —  it  was  a  time! 

English  Prisoner  {maliciously) 
Do  you  mean  a  good  time."* 


196  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Nurse  Nelson 

Depends.  Worse  wounds  than  any  I  have  seen 
here.  The  bad  surgery  accounted  for  a  good  deal, 
of  course.  It  was  a  good  time  because  we  were  so 
close  to  human  suffering,  and  for  a  nurse,  the  more 
useful  she  feels  herself,  the  better  she  likes  it.  Now 
you  know  what  a  good  time  for  a  nurse  means,  you 
wicked  man. 

English  Prisoner 

I  know.  Good  Lord!  don't  I  know!  This  Is  my 
third  knockover,  and  now  I  've  boxed  the  compass 
by  coming  to  this  blessed  place  as  a  prisoner  to  be 
treated  by  a  .  .  . 

Nurse  Nelson 
Well  —  no,  not  an  Englishwoman. 

English  Prisoner 

By  an  Anglo-Saxon.  By  the  by,  what  brought 
you  here? 

Nurse  Nelson 


Love! 
Love? 


English  Prisoner 


Nurse  Nelson 

Love  of  adventure.  Don't  be  so  Inquisitive. 
Yes,  love  of  a  man,  too.  I  was  married  to  a  Ger- 
man. 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  i97 


i 


English  Prisoner 
So  you  like  these  blighters? 

Nurse  Nelson 
Some,  yes. 

English  Prisoner 

Well,  I  suppose  some  of  'em  are  right  enough. 
Tell  me  what  has  been  going  on  since  I  fell  —  that 
is  three  weeks  ago.  I  am  allowed  to  talk  and  be 
talked  to  now,  you  know. 

Nurse  Nelson 

I  am  not  supposed  to  give  news  to  prisoners. 
Besides,  I  am  under  observation  since  America 
came  in,  you  may  be  sure.  But  I  '11  tell  you,  all  the 
same,  if  you  're  good  and  don't  get  too  restless  and 
shift  your  bandages.  Germany's  in  a  terrible  way. 
They're  running  short  of  ammunition  and  men  too, 
and  Berlin's  full  of  sedition  {glancing  round  her  and 
lowering  her  voice)  and  the  working  classes  are  all 
up  against  going  on  with  the  war  and  are  demon- 
strating against  it  daily.  {Nurse  passing.)  You 
know  you  ought  not  to  be  In  this  ward  at  all.  It  was 
some  mistake. 

English  Prisoner 

Probably  on  account  of  my  name  being  Zlm- 
mermann. 

Nurse  Nelson 

No  wonder.  They  could  n't  realise  that  a  Zim- 
mermann  was  a  prisoner.  Are  n't  you  a  German? 


198  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

English  Prisoner 

My  father  was,  but  I  hate  the  Germans.  —  At 
least,  I  hate  Germany  —  I  mean  their  Govern- 
ment—  No,  perhaps  I  ought  rather  to  say  the 
beasts  who  brought  on  the  war.  You  are  of  Ger- 
man origin  too,  I  suppose. 

Nurse  Nelson 
No,  I'm  really  Scotch,  but  bom  in  America. 

English  Prisoner 

How  absurd  international  hatred  is.  Here  am  I 
fighting  against  my  father's  sister's  children  and 
you  a  Scotchwoman  tending  my  wounds  in  the 
enemy's  country — both  of  us  much  more  attached 
to  the  place  of  our  up-bringing  than  affected  by 
political  allegiance  or  birth. 

Nurse  Nelson 
You  don't  speak  like  a  Tommy,  now. 

English  Prisoner 

Well,  if  you  want  to  know,  I  am  an  Oxf  Drd  man 
and  a  barrister  and  joined  the  London  Scottish. 

Nurse  Nelson  {eagerly) 
Then  you  are  Scotch  too.f* 

English  Prisoner 
No,  not  necessarily,  though  my  mother  is. 

Nurse  Nelson 
Well,  that's  enough.   In  America,  if  you  only 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  199 

have  a  Scotch  great-grandmother,  you  belong  to 
Scotland  and  keep  St.  Andrew's  day.  It's  like 
royal  blood  in  your  veins.   {Laughs.) 

English  Prisoner 

I  wish  all  these  blessed  politicians  could  be 
shunted  to  the  Falkland  Islands.  It's  the  politicians 
have  made  the  war,  and  all  of  us  have  been  fighting 
and  killed  and  wounded  because  they  are  incom- 
petent to  deal  with  anything  complicated.  I  love 
my  own  profession,  but  I  see  the  superiority  of  a 
careful  business  man  or  manufacturer  or  engineer. 
They  think  before  they  act.  Politicians  act  first 
and  find  excuses  afterwards,  and  lawyers  don't  care 
much  about  essentials  —  they  enjoy  the  sport  of 
winning,  right  or  wrong. 

[Doors  thrown  open,  A  lady  in  black  enters. 
Saluting  and  curtseying. 

Who's  that? 

Nurse  Nelson  {standing  at  attention) 
The  Empress! 

English  Prisoner 
I  hope  she's  brought  cigarettes. 

Nurse  Nelson 

She  always  leaves  several  boxes.  All  the  flowers 
are  from  her.   She's  an  angel  to  the  hospitals. 

[The  Kaiserin  moves  round  from  bed  to  bed, 
conversing  pleasantly  with  the  wounded  and 
nurses.  Here  and  there  a  laugh.  Eventually 
she  reaches  the  English  Prisoner's  bed. 


200  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Matron  {rather  severely) 

This  man,  Your  Majesty,  is  a  prisoner.  He  was 
badly  wounded  in  four  places. 

Kaiserin 
Vous  etes  Frangais,  Monsieur  ? 

English  Prisoner 
No,  Madam,  I  am  an  Englishman.  ] 

Matron  {severely) 
His  name  is  Zimmermann. 

Kaiserin 
That's  not  an  English  name. 

English  Prisoner 

My  father  was  German  and  my  mother  Is  Scotch, 
and  I  was  born  in  England,  and  I  have  fought  for 
my  country  and  been  thrice  wounded  In  her  service. 

Kaiserin 

But  if  your  father  is  German,  you  don't  think 
us  all  such  ogres  as  we  are  represented,  do  you? 

English  Prisoner 

No,  Ma'am,  I  know  that  all  Germans  are  nothing 
of  the  kind  and  that  this  war  would  never  have 
taken  place  if  men  had  known  each  other  better. 

Kaiserin 
Where  is  your  father? 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  '201 

English  Prisoner 

My  father  Is  a  naturalised  Englishman,  but  a 
suspect.  I  don't  blame  the  authorities,  who  can't 
make  distinctions,  but  he  Is  more  English  than  I 
am. 

Kaiserin 
Why  do  so  many  Germans  love  England? 

English  Prisoner  {with  energy  and  making  an 
effort  to  rise,  and  falling  back) 

Because  she  Is  lovable. 

Kaiserin 

You  have  excited  yourself  too  much  in  talking 
with  me.  But  before  I  go,  tell  me  what  do  you  mean 
by  "lovable"? 

English  Prisoner 

She  is  like  Your  Majesty.    Her  large,  warm, 
mother's  heart  beats  In  harmony  with  all  her  sub- 
jects and  has  even  tenderness  to  spare  for  others. 
[The  K-Aiserin  gives  him  her  hand,  which  he 
raises  to  his  lips.  She  passes  on  in  silence. 

Nurse  Nelson 
Is  n't  she  a  daisy,  as  we  say? 

English  Prisoner 
She  seems  a  good  sort. 


202  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Nurse  Nelson 

How  fearfully  prosaic!  Why,  you  spoke  of  her 
heart  so  beautifully  and  poetically  that  you  went 
straight  to  it. 

English  Prisoner 
Of  England's  heart,  you  mean. 

Nurse  Nelson 

She  knows  nothing  of  England's  heart.  Hers 
beats  within  her.  But  you  said  more  than  you  un- 
derstood, young  man.  And  that  touched  her,  too, 
the  more  so  because  she  saw  you  were  not  cap- 
able of  realising  its  depth.  Her  Majesty's  heart 
does  beat  with  all  her  subjects,  but  His  Majesty's 
Government  has  no  heart  for  half  of  them.  The 
Poles,  the  Alsatians,  the  Schleswigers,  practically 
the  whole  artisan  and  working  class  of  Germany  — 
most  of  the  thinking  population  —  are  regarded 
by  the  Kaiser's  Government  as  enemies,  and  Ger- 
many, the  great  mother,  is  still  unborn.  When  you 
said  that  of  England,  you  may  have  opened  Her 
Majesty's  eyes  to  the  greatest  fact  of  the  present 
age.  England  is  a  motherland,  Germany  is  merely 
a  fatherland,  a  guardian  with  as  much  motherliness 
in  it  as  a  public  company. 

English  Prisoner 

Upon  my  soul  —  it  is  good  to  hear  you  talk.  My 
father  was  a  friend  of  old  Liebknecht.  He  was  a 
young  revolutionary  refugee  in  Paris  in  1870,  and 
though  he  would  not  fight  against  Germany,  he 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  '203 

fought  with  the  Commune  against  the  Versaillais 
and  fled  to  England,  where  he  has  Hved  ever  since. 
He  is  known  to  Hterature  under  a  pseudonym.  He 
could  have  returned  to  Germany,  but  the  great 
mother,  England,  had  received  him  to  her  bosom 
in  his  trouble.  There  he  found  safety  from  per- 
secution, —  freedom,  —  not  a  gesticulating  deity, 
but  the  warm,  tender  comfort  of  being  let  alone. 
That's  why  he  loves  her  and  why  I  love  her.  Only 
those  who  know  something  else  can  understand  such 
goodness  in  itself.  You  understand  it  because  you 
have  .  .  . 

Nurse  Nelson 

Stop !  You  are  talking  too  much.  I  must  go  to 
other  patients  now.  But  great  events  are  impend- 
ing. You  spoke  of  Liebknecht.  His  son  is  in  danger 
of  his  life.  The  Government  thought  that  ideas 
could  be  locked  up,  and  kept  him  in  prison  for 
months,  but  he  is  out  again.  On  the  slightest  ex- 
cuse, the  Government  would  try  him  for  high 
treason  and  have  him  shot.  He  is  immensely  pop- 
ular and  goes  his  own  way,  defying  the  Govern- 
ment. This  country  is  ripening  for  revolution.  If 
they  don't  get  peace  shortly,  there  will  be  —  you 
know  what  I  mean. 

English  Prisoner 
Are  you  a  revolutionary  too? 

Nurse  Nelson 
[My  mother  was  an  Irish  patriot.  ^ 


204  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

English  Prisoner 
I  suppose  you  mean  that  to  explain  everything. 

Nurse  Nelson 

It  does  a  lot,  does  n't  it?  By  the  by,  are  you 
married  ? 

English  Prisoner 
No,  I  am  still  a  sporting  chance. 

Nurse  Nelson  {laughing) 

In  spite  of  your  shortened  leg!  Now,  be  quiet  or 
I  shall  be  reprimanded  for  impropriety  and  you 
turned  into  a  prisoners'  ward.  Be  a  good  boy  and 
go  to  sleep. 

[Moves  away.  The  English  Prisoner  pulls 
a  shade  over  his  eyes. 

CURTAIN 

SCENE  II 

A  lofty  Bier-Halle  in  Berlin^  packed  with  men  and 
a  sprinkling  of  women;  small  tables,  beer-tankards, 
long  pipes,  short  pipes,  cigars,  a  few  cigarettes;  plat- 
form to  right;  constables  at  long  table  with  reporters, 
some  constables  facing  platform,  others  audience; 
high  reading-desk,  table  for  Chairman,  and  a  few 
chairs  on  platform. 

«    Hum  of  subdued  conversation  —  a  note  of  restless 
expectation  and  excitement. 

First  Citizen 
It's  shameful. 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  205 

Second  Citizen 
What's  shameful? 

First  Citizen 
Using  the  police  to  stifle  public  opinion. . 

Second  Citizen 

They've  been  doing  that  since  the  war  began. 
The  world's  gagged.  I've  just  heard  from  New 
York  that  it's  as  bad  there  —  not  a  song  can  be 
sung  in  a  music-hall  without  the  consent  of  the 
police.  It's  not  militarism  that's  the  curse  of  the 
world,  it's  the  present  generation's  own  damned 
stupidity  that  stands  this  sort  of  thing. 

First  Citizen 

What  can  you  expect  of  a  system  that  tries  to 
reduce  everybody  to  the  same  low  level?  The  only 
sensible  political  philosophy  is  anarchism  —  the 
removal  of  fetters  to  free  development. 

Second  Citizen 

The  present  generation 's  too  stupid  to  appreciate 
freedom.  They  clamour  for  the  State  as  if  it  were 
a  medicine-man,  and  when  they've  got  a  bottle  of 
something  with  a  label  on  it  they  feel  better.  All 
their  so-called  progress  is  only  exchanging  one  evil 
or  one  delusion  for  another. 

First  Citizen 

With  all  our  vaunted  civilisation  we  have  re- 
verted intellectually  to  the  hand-to-mouth  stage. 


2o6  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

Only  It's  on  such  a  gigantic  scale  that  we  can't  get 
it  into  a  panorama.  Look  at  this  War  —  we  dash 
Into  It  as  if  we  were  cutting  into  cake,  with  no  more 
attempt  to  grasp  its  meaning  than  if  we  were 
women  at  a  tea-fight  {Kaffee-Klatsch),  and  now  we 
are  clamouring  for  peace  In  just .  .  . 

[Noise  at  the  back;  everybody  rises  to  see 
what  it  is. 
Uninvited  guests ! 

Second  Citizen  {looking  at  his  watch) 

High  time  they  began ! 

[Noise  continues;  some  person  invisible  to  the 
audience  speaking  in  background.  Hush- 
ing and  silence. 

^^  Gentlemen,  I  should  be  glad  to  admit  you, 
but  this  meeting  is  under  the  supervision  of 
the  police,  and  admissions  are  by  invitation 
only.  If  you  persist  in  trying  to  force  an 
entrance  I  must  hand  over  the  doors  to  the 
police  officer.''^ 

[Noise  —  cries  of  ^^ Shameful!  "  '^ Police  to  the 
devil r''  "Downwiththe police  I  ^^  Constables 
sit  stolid  and  observant  at  table.  Outside 
a  shot  is  fired;  then  follow  several.  A  mus- 
cular, commanding  voice  shouts,  "  Close  the 
doors r"^  {Thiir  zu  !)  Closing  of  doors. 

^  First  Citizen 

We  are  In  a  rat-trap. 

[Firing  outside,  screams  of  women,  and  shouts 
of  command  and  defiance.  Then  a  thunder- 


I-]  In  Gremio  Deorum  207 

ing  volley ;  screams  and  yells  growing  less 
and  less  until  silence. 
[The  muscular,  commanding  voice:  ^^ Gentle- 
men,  you  can  proceed  with  your  meeting.''^ 
The  prelude  's  taken  the  stomach  out  of  it. 

[Door  at  side  of  platform  opens  and  three  men 
in  frock  coats  enter.  The  Chairman  at  table 
pours  out  glass  of  water.  Others  take  seats  on 
either  side. 

Chairman 
Gentlemen  —  We  are  met  here  to-night  under 
somewhat  exceptional  circumstances.  Public  meet- 
ings, as  you  know,  are  forbidden.  This  is  not  a  pub- 
lic meeting  and,  as  you  may  have  observed,  it  is 
under  the  protection  of  the  police  {a  titter). 

[Constables  look  round  to  discover  the  author 
of  the  unseemly  interruption. 
I  beg  the  audience  to  remain  calm  and  to  re- 
member that  we  owe  the  privilege  of  meeting  at  all 
to  the  intervention  of  His  Majesty.  We  should  also 
remember  that  the  police  are  only  performing  their 
duty,  and  I  feel  sure  their  duty  is  often  as  unpleas- 
ant to  them  as  it  is  .  .  .  [Noise  and  a  pause. 
[Burly  police  officer  walks  up  the  middle  pas- 
sage to  the  table  and  addresses  the  Chair- 
man, rather  short  of  breath. 

Police  Officer 

I  respectfully  request  the  Chairman  not  to  refer 
to  the  police.  Compliments  are  as  misplaced  as 
criticism.  We  have  our  orders,  and  so  long  as  you 
behave  yourselves  properly  you  may  proceed. 

[General  indignation. 


2o8  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

First  Citizen 
The  Impertinence! 

Chairman 

Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  poHte  and  con- 
siderate intimation  of  the  gentleman  in  command 
of  this  hall.  {A  titter  —  same  movement.)  You  have 
also  heard  the  echo  of  feelings  outside  the  hall.  {A 
groan  —  same  movement.)  They  had  a  certain  elo- 
quence. In  fact  they  spat  out  the  gag.  (Turning  to 
officer.)  I  beg  your  honour's  pardon.  And,  well, 
gentlemen,  I  stop.  You  have  come  to  hear  our 
friend  Deputy  Dr.  Liebknecht,  and  not  me,  and  to 
him  I  yield  the  floor. 

["Hear,  hear,'^  and  rumbling  of  feet.  Gentle- 
man on  right  of  the  Chairman  rises ;  clap- 
ping of  hands  and  rumbling  of  feet ;  takes 
a  manuscript  from  his  pocket  and  spreads 
it  out  on  reading-desk ;  clears  his  voice. 

Police  Officer  {rising) 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  must  ask  you  to  forbid  all  cheer- 
ing and  manifestations  of  opinion.  Such  are  my 
orders. 

Dr.  Liebknecht 

Gentlemen,  the  Chairman  has  told  you  that  It  Is 
by  the  Kaiser's  express  leave  that  we  are  able  to 
hold  a  meeting  at  all.  I  do  not  thank  him  for  grant- 
ing us  what  he  ought  to  have  no  right  to  withhold, 
but  I  take  his  consent  as  evidence  that  the  scales 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  209 

are  falling  from  the  eyes  of  authority  and  that  a 
better  time  is  coming. 

The  internal  government  of  peoples  is  no  longer 
a  purely  internal  question.  It  may  have  the  grav- 
est consequences  for  other  nations.  The  French 
revolutionary  philosophers  were  right.  Revolution 
—  a  revolution  against  autocracy  is  not  a  mere 
revolt  —  it  is  a  crusade. 

Police  Officer 

I  cannot  allow  "revolution"  to  be  spoken  about 
as  a  crusade. 

Dr.  Liebknecht 

If  the  officer  were  less  hasty,  he  would  have  let 
me  explain  before  he  interrupted  me.  My  father  of 
blessed  memory  called  Socialism  an  "Evangelium." 
I  regard  it  as  such.  It  is  the  consolation  of  the  poor 
and  the  downtrodden,  of  the  wreckage  of  man- 
kind, of  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  society,  of  those 
to  whom,  in  mind  or  in  body.  Nature  has  been  un- 
generous. It  is  the  good  time  combing  for  those 
who  lie  stranded  in  the  hospitals  of  life  —  of  the 
wounded  in  life's  battle.  It  is  the  word  of  good 
cheer,  and  what  is  the  word  of  God  but  the  word 
of  good  cheer,  the  smile  of  that  greatest  nurse  of 
mankind  —  hope  —  hope,  if  not  in  this  life,  hope 
for  our  children  and  generations  to  come?  And 
what  I  am  saying  to  you  to-day  is  only  what  my 
father  said  before  me.  In  me  he  lives,  and  in  your 
children  and  your  children's  children  will  you  live. 
The  dawn  is  on  the  horizon,  we  discern  it  through 


2IO  The  Sands  of  Fate  [i. 

the  mists  left  by  the  long  night  from  which  the 
sunlight  is  just  emerging.  We  appeal  across  these 
mists  to  suifering  mankind. 

I  am  forbidden  to  speak  of  how  the  rulers  of  the 
earth  are  fulfilling  their  trust. 

Police  Officer 

Will  the  speaker  please  confine  himself  to  his 
"Evangelium".''  (Smiling.)  (Murmurs ;  the  word 
"insolence'^  (Frechheit)  is  heard.)  I  cannot  allow 
any  manifestation  of  opinion,  any  applause,  or  the 
contrary.  If  repeated  it  will  be  followed  by  im- 
mediate evacuation  of  the  hall.  Such  are  my 
orders. 

Chairman 

The  officer  has  to  obey  his  orders,  however  in- 
sensate they  may  be. 

[Police  Officer  rises  indignantly,  but  sits 
dozvfi  again. 

Dr.  Liebknecht 

Not  to  speak  of  the  War  implies  silence  about 
Peace.  All,  therefore,  I  can  say  is  that  we,  the  So- 
cialists of  Germany,  who  have  not  surrendered  to 
Csesar  (the  Police  Officer  jumps  to  his  feet,  but 
sits  down  again),  hold  out  our  hands  to  the  Social- 
ists of  the  world  and  declare  (with  vehemence)  our 
loathing  for  a  war  ... 

Police  Officer 
Stop,  sir! 


I.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  211 

Dr.  Liebknecht  {shouting  him  down) 

...  a  war  forced  on  mankind  by  a  malignant 
gang  of  miscreants  on  grounds  as  contemptible  as 
they  are  criminal. 

[All    the    audience   on   their  feet,    cheering 
frantically. 

Police  Officer  {bawling)  ■ 

Clear  the  hall ! 

[Police,  formed  into  a  line  with  drawn  pistols, 

gradually  move  the  audience  back   to   the 

doors. 

{To  Dr.  Liebknecht,  sarcastically.)    Sorry,  sir, 

to  disturb  so  pleasant  a  gathering.     My  orders. 

If  you  and  the  Chairman  and  the  other  gentlemen 

go  out  quietly  by  the  back  door  you  will  escape 

me. 

Dr.  Liebknecht 

I  don't  want  to  escape  you.  I  am  at  your  dis- 
posal. 

Police  Officer 
Don't  be  a  fool!  [Joining  his  men. 


CURTAIN 


ACT  II 

The  Kaiser's  study  at  Schloss,  Berlin^  as  in 
Part  I,  Act  III.  Von  Etting  at  telephone  with  re- 
ceiver at  his  ear,  looking  very  impatient. 

Von  Etting 

Yes,  Headquarters.  Excellency  von  Etting,  yes. 
Is  that  you,  Field-Marshal?  All  right,  thanks.  His 
Majesty  wishes  to  know  if  you  propose  to  evacuate 
Cologne.  {Pause.)  Diisseldorf  and  Duisburg  al- 
ready! Good  God!  {Listening.)  Essen!  {Almost 
shouting.)  .  .  .  Yes,  a  couple  of  hundred  thousand 
Japanese.  We  shall  need  all  we've  got  on  that  side. 
Berlin  is  seething  with  revolution.  Yes,  we  had  to 
shoot  two  hundred  of  them.  The  rest  sent  back  to 
the  Front.  What  can  you  spare.-*  Not  ten  thou- 
sand. Yes,  see  what  you  can  do.  Good  luck  to  you. 
[Puts  down  receiver.  Ring.  Takes  up  re- 
ceiver again. 

His  Ma j  es ty  is  going  to  receive  them  here.  Who 's 
the  President  of  the  Reichstag  —  oh,  yes,  that 
bounder  Kaempf;  and  how  many.?  Some  dozen  or 
so.  Deputation  of  Liberal  leaders.  Wait  a  moment, 
let  me  make  a  note.  {Passes  receiver  to  other  ear  and 
writes  while  still  holding  it.)  All  right,  when  you 
like.  [Puts  down  receiver  and  hurries  out. 

[A  pause. 

Enter  Court  Chamberlain  with  a  large  sheet  of 
paper  in  his  hand  and  takes  a  look  round,  pushes 


II.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  213 

chairs  out  of  the  way  to  make  plenty  of  standing 
room,  consults  paper  leisurely,  and  exit. 

[Pause.   Voices. 
Enter  Dr.  Kaempf,  with  Court  Chamberlain, 
followed  by  a  number  of  members  of  the  Reich- 
stag in  swallowtails,  white  gloves,  and  white  ties. 
Court  Chamberlain  arranges  them,  with  list 
in  hand,  according  to  alphabetical  order.   Inau- 
dible subdued  remarks  of  Court  Chamberlain 
to  each.   Smiles.  Handshaking  in  some  cases. 
[Exit  Court  Chamberlain.  Pause. 
[Doors  thrown  open.  Halbardiers  enter  and 
place  themselves  at  either  side  of  doorway. 

Enter  Court  Chamberlain. 

Court  Chamberlain  {in  official  voice) 

Gentlemen!  His  Majesty! 

Enter  the  Kaiser. 

[Exeunt  Halbardiers. 

Kaiser 

Gentlemen,  your  President,  Dr.  Kaempf,  has 
been  good  enough  to  Inform  me  that  you  wished  to 
present  me  an  address.  It  has  given  me  pleasure 
to  grant  you  an  audience  for  this  purpose,  and  I 
bid  you  welcome. 

Dr.  Kaempf 

I  beg  to  present  to  Your  Majesty  my  colleagues 
of  the  Reichstag  who  are  present,  a  list  of  whom 
His  Excellency  the  Court  Chamberlain,  I  am  in- 
formed, submitted  beforehand  for  Your  Majesty's 


214  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

approval.  Your  Majesty  objected  to  the  presence 
of  two  of  our  colleagues.  May  I  humbly  request 
Your  Majesty  to  tell  their  colleagues  here  present 
why  Your  Majesty  objected  to  their  forming  part 
of  the  deputation.  I  beg  to  add  that  they  were  duly 
elected  by  the  political  group  to  which  they  belong, 
and  the  group  to  which  they  belong  will  expect 
an  explanation,  which,  I  trust.  Your  Majesty  will 
enable  me  to  give. 

Kaiser 

Mr.  President  Kaempf,  it  is  not  for  a  Sovereign 
to  give  any  explanation.  To  the  two  gentlemen  in 
question  I  had  the  gravest  objection.  That  ought 
to  suffice. 

Dr.  Kaempf 

I  am  afraid  it  does  not,  Sir.  The  Reichstag  rep- 
resents the  German  people. 

Kaiser 

No,  Sir,  I  represent  the  German  people.  The 
Reichstag  is  merely  my  adviser. 

Dr.  Kaempf 

With  all  deference  to  Your  Majesty,  the  question 
of  the  true  position  of  Sovereign  and  Parliament 
has  long  since  been  settled  in  the  Home  of  Parlia- 
ments, and  both  in  France  and  in  Germany,  as  in 
other  Parliamentary  countries,  the  Parliamentary 
system  has  been  borrowed  from  England,  and  Is 
subject  to  the  principles  and  privileges  which  at- 
tend and  surround  the  institution  in  that  country. 


II.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  215 

KLa-ISER  {with  a  slightly  contemptuous  smile) 
A  sort  of  apostolic  succession. 

Dr.  Kaempf 
If  Your  Majesty  pleases. 

Kaiser 

And  if  I  decline  to  give  you  any  reason,  do  you 
propose  to  send  me  to  the  guillotine  ?  {Looks  steadily 
at  Dr.  Kaempf.)  {A  pause.)  My  dear  President, 
I  am  no  Louis  Capet,  and  this  Schloss  is  not  yet 
invaded  by  the  Berlin  canaille.  Take  a  friend's 
advice,  and  drop  dictation.  {Pause.)  Let  us  pro- 
ceed to  the  matter  in  hand. 

Dr.  Kaempf 

Your  Majesty  knows  I  make  no  pretence  of  hav- 
ing any  power  of  coercion,  but  I  would  humbly 
point  out  to  Your  Majesty  that  the  Reichstag  is  in 
no  mood  to  allow  any  discussion  as  to  its  supremacy. 

Kaiser  {startled) 
Supremacy! 

Dr.  Kaempf 

Yes,  Sir,  the  word  I  have  used  is  the  one  which 
was  used  at  yesterday's  council  of  the  leaders.  The 
Reichstag  intends  to  be  supreme. 

Kaiser 

And  pray.  Sir,  how  is  the  Reichstag  going  to 
materialise   its   supremacy   against   the  physical 


2i6  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

force  which  is  under  my  command  and  obeys  my 
orders?  My  dear  President,  you  are  threatening 
me  with  civil  war,  and  exposing  the  leaders  to  a 
coup  d'etat. 

Dr.  Kaempf  {drawing  himself  up  and  turning  to 

his  colleagues) 

Gentlemen,  His  Majesty's  last  words  I  think  we 
must  regard  as  a  dismissal. 

Kaiser 

Gentlemen,  your  President  has  an  emphatic  way 
of  putting  his  point  which  exposes  him  to  the  an- 
swer I  have  given  him.  Now,  what  I  suppose  he 
wished  me  to  understand  is  that  the  Reichstag  is 
displeased  with  the  course  the  War  has  taken,  has 
come  to  think  that  if  a  declaration  of  war,  under  the 
German  Constitution,  had  been  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  Parliament,  as  in  France,  the  Reichstag 
would  probably  have  had  a  majority  against  it. 
Perhaps,  gentlemen,  you  are  right,  and  so  far  as 
that  is  concerned  I  should  have  been  glad  to  have 
been  restrained  by  such  a  provision;  but  you  are  not 
unaware  that  in  the  Home  of  Parliaments  war  was 
declared  against  Germany  without  the  consent  of 
Parliament. 

Dr.  Kaempf 
But  by  a  Committee  of  Parliarnent. 

Kaiser 
How  a  Committee  of  Parliament? 


II.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  217 

Dr.  Kaempf 

By  a  Government  chosen  from  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Parliament  and  responsible  to  it. 

ICaiser 

Then  is  that  the  point  on  which  you  wish  to  hear 
my  commands? 

Dr.  Kaempf 

Our  object,  Sir,  is  humbly  to  request  you.  Sir, 
to  grant  your  people  two  changes  in  the  Imperial 
Constitution.  The  one  is  that  no  member  of  the 
Cabinet  shall  be  chosen  outside  the  Reichstag  or 
the  Bundesrath,  that  the  majority  of  the  Cabinet 
shall  in  all  cases  belong  to  the  Reichstag,  and  that 
this  shall  apply  to  the  Imperial  Chancellor,  who 
shall  continue,  as  hitherto,  to  be  President  of  the 
Cabinet  and  Prime  Minister,  choosing  his  col- 
leagues from  the  two  legislative  houses  exclusively. 

Kaiser 

Gentlemen,  I  will  consider  the  matter.  Have  you 
any  other  proposal  f 

Dr.  Kaempf 

No,  Sir,  not  at  present.  I  beg  Your  Majesty  to 
regard  this  deputation  as  the  expression  of  the 
entire  liberalism  of  the  Reichstag,  and  therefore  of 
the  country.  We  represent,  with  the  Social  Demo- 
crats, a  large  majority  of  Your  Majesty's  subjects, 
and  hope  that  Your  Majesty,  who  has  always  been 
regarded  by  German  Liberals  as  in  sympathy  with 


21 8  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

liberal  ideas  and  progressive  legislation,  will  appre- 
ciate this  step  on  our  part  as  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  generations  of  Germans  to  come. 

[Stepping  back  to  the  middle  of  the  deputation. 
[A  pause,  during  which  the  Emperor  puts  his 
hand  to  his  eyes  and  stands  for  a  few  mo- 
ments in  silence. 

Kaiser 

Gentlemen,  I  have  been  a  Liberal  all  my  life. 
Every  act  in  my  career  has  been  an  act  of  liberal- 
ism. If  I  have  fought  Socialism,  it  is  because  I  re- 
gard It  as  subversive  of  every  principle  of  righteous 
conduct,  human  and  divine.  It  proposes  to  apply 
general  and  artificial  injustice  as  a  remedy  for  the 
cruelties  of  Nature.  To  prevent  a  thousand  men 
from  using  their  limbs  in  order  to  console  one  who 
has  none  would  be  just  about  as  sensible  as  the 
equalising  system  of  Socialism.  I  have  fought 
trade-unionism  for  the  same  reason.  But  if  I  have 
fought  the  levelling  process  at  the  foot,  I  have 
fought  privilege  at  the  top.  I  have,  fought  the  uni- 
versities and  the  so-called  Intellectuals,  who  have 
tried  to  typify  German  culture.  You  know  how, 
in  the  face  of  discouraging  prophecy  and  even  in- 
sult, I  fought  the  battle  of  science  against  philos- 
ophy and  learning;  how  I  succeeded  in  raising 
the  polytechnics  of  Germany  to  their  present  tran- 
scendent position;  how  I  have  ent:ouraged  scien- 
tific research;  how,  in  the  teeth  of  the  Senatuses 
of  our  universities,  of  officialdom,  and  all  the  silly 
routine  of  German  old-fogeyism,  I  placed  Profes- 


II.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  219 

sor  Wilhelm  von  Jasmar  at  the  head  of  the  greatest 
chemical  institute  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Nor  do 
you  forget  it  is  I  who  persuaded  the  rich  men  of 
Germany  to  subscribe  the  largest  sums  ever  col- 
lected for  educational  purposes.  Nor  have  you  for- 
gotten the  howl  of  the  intellectual  wolves  who 
thought  their  loyal  services  made  them  the  equals 
of  genius. 

I  have  always  sought  to  put  the  right  man  In  the 
right  place.  What  was  Jasmar  doing  when  I  took 
him  by  the  hand?  He  was  earning  a  precarious 
livelihood  by  odd  jobs  —  he,  our  greatest  chemist, 
doing  work  any  public  water-inspector  could  do, 
jeopardising  even  his  scientific  reputation  because 
he  had  to  earn  private  fees  for  a  living.  Gentlemen, 
it  was  a  disgrace  to  the  country,  and  I  thank  God 
that  I  had  the  initiative  to  see  that  he  was  as  much 
a  part  of  our  national  wealth  as  our  mineral  re- 
sources. If  we  had  been  like  the  English,  we  should 
have  sterilised  Jasmar  in  some  post  where  any  fool 
would  have  done  just  as  well.  {With  emphasis.) 
Chemistry,  gentlemen,  has  made  Germany.  I  am 
going  to  found  a  new  vast  chemical  institute.  The 
cost  of  one  of  our  useless  dreadnoughts  will  pay  for 
it.  Another  Jasmar  shall  be  the  head  of  it,  and 
we  '11  conquer  the  whole  world  again  with  chemistry. 
Chemistry,  as  much  as  electricity,  is  a  weapon  of 
the  future.  And  don't  think,  gentlemen,  that  I 
mean  weapons  of  war.  I  mean  the  peaceful  weapons 
with  which  German  trade  and  German  industry 
and  German  science  had  gained  their  ascendancy 
before  the  War. 


220  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

We  have  been  accused  of  being  a  nation  of  spies. 
Gentlemen,  every  man  who  crosses  the  national 
frontier  should  be  a  spy  for  knowledge  if  he  is  a 
genuine  patriot.  And  I  intend  to  develop  the  Geo- 
graphical Institute  at  Gotha  into  a  still  more  effi- 
cient centralisation  of  geographical  knowledge  of 
every  kind.  The  miniature  of  the  whole  world  shall 
be  reproduced  there,  and  every  German  shall  be 
proud  to  see  his  mite  of  knowledge  duly  classed  and 
reproduced  on  maps  ten  times  more  vast  and  more 
useful  than  even  at  present.  The  English  are  prom- 
ising themselves  a  geographical  institute,  but  we 
are  thousands  of  miles  ahead  of  them  already,  and, 
generous  as  the  English  are  to  hospitals  and  chari- 
ties, they  are  the  most  niggardly  people  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  when  the  endowment  of  research  is 
concerned,  and  yet,  gentlemen,  what  can  charity 
do  alongside  the  immensity  of  the  social  ramifica- 
tions benefited  by  additions  to  science  and  dis- 
covery f 

There  are  many  men  in  this  land  of  ours  still 
vegetating  in  the  struggle  for  life  who  are  capa- 
ble of  rendering  transcendent  service  to  their  coun- 
try. I  shall  drag  them  out  of  their  holes.  For, 
gentlemen,  the  genius  of  a  nation  is  its  greatest 
asset.  We  must  seek  for  it  as  we  seek  for  its  mines. 
Germany's  ideal  has  hitherto  been  a  cornfield  in 
which  the  minimum  of  root  and  maximum  of  ear 
are  achieved  by  artificial  and  scientific  methods. 
You  can't  raise  genius  in  rows  and  furrows.  I  see 
that  now,  and  that  the  rooting  out  of  the  tares  may 
be  the  destruction  of  what  is  the  most  precious  of 
Its  growths. 


n.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  221 

If  I  have  dwelt  on  these  projects  for  the  future, 
it  is  because  I  wish  you,  gentlemen,  to  see  that  I 
can  speak  in  the  same  frank  spirit  to  you  as  you 
have  done  to  me.  We  have  a  joint  trust  to  fulfil 
and  a  joint  task  to  perform.  We  must  put  our  heads 
together  and  see  how  we  can  best  fulfil  and  per- 
form them. 

I  thank  you  for  your  suggestions  respecting  the 
Constitution.  May  I  ask  if  you  have  them  in 
writing  ? 

[The  Court  Chamberlain  touches  a  button 
on  the  wall.  Dr.  Kaempf,  steppi7ig  for- 
ward, hands  the  Kaiser  a  scroll  tied  in 
black  silk  ribbon.  The  Kaiser  takes  it  and, 
bowing  to  Dr.  Kaempf  and  the  deputation, 
turns;  the  doors  are  thrown  open,  the  Hal- 
BARDiERS  take  up  their  posts  on  either  side, 
and  the  Kaiser  walks  out. 

Court  Chamberlain 
Gentlemen,  you  will  find  refreshments  and  cigars 
in  the  adjoining  room. 

[Most  of  the  deputation  follow  the  Court 
Chamberlain.  Dr.  Kaempf  and  two 
members  remain  behind. 

Dr.  Kaempf 

I  don't  know  what  to  think.  We  shall  have  to 
issue  some  statement.  His  Majesty  is  quite  uncon- 
scious of  the  danger.  He  can't  understand  that  his 
subjects  should  want  something  besides  prosperity, 
a  good  administration,  and  clean  streets.  He  does 
not  realise  that  his  old  professional  army  is  prac- 


222  The  Sands  of  Fate  [n. 

tically  gone,  and  that  the  army  now  in  the  field  is 
one  of  citizen  officers,  who  can't  be  counted  on  to 
shoot  down  their  fellow-citizens. 

First  Member  of  Reichstag 

He  made  a  tactical  mistake  in  striking  out  the 
Social-Democrat  names. 

[Nods  of  assent  —  a  pause. 

Dr.  Kaempf 

I  don't  expect  His  Majesty  to  yield,  anyhow,  till 
things  are  worse.  {Distant  cadenced  shouts.)  What 's 
that.?   {Listening  —  shots  —  then  a  volley.) 

Second  Member  of  Reichstag 

It's  the  Elberf elder  —  Good  God! 

[All  pour  from  the  adjoining  room  and  rush 
to  the  door. 

Enter  Officer  and  four  soldiers. 

Officer 
Gentlemen,  you  are  under  arrest. 

Dr.  Kaempf 
But  we  are  immune  from  arrest. 

Officer 

I  can't  help  my  orders,  Sir.  In  the  adjoining  room 
you  will  await  His  Majesty's  pleasure. 

[All  file  hack  into  the  adjoining  room.  The 
officer  turns  the  key,  and,  followed  by  his 
men,  goes  out  himself. 

curtain 


ACT  III 

Kaiser's  study.  Von  Etting,  The  Professor. 

Enter  Ballin. 

Professor 
Well,  what  is  the  crowd  Hke? 

Ballin 

Difficult  to  say.  I  am  going  back  in  a  few  min- 
utes. What's  the  programme? 

Von  Etting 

His  Majesty  has  prepared  a  speech.  The  Pro- 
fessor knows  more  about  it  than  I  do.  I  'm  maid- 
of-all-work,  you  know. 

Ballin 

Anyhow,  the  slaughter  is  going  to  stop. 

Professor 

Yes,  but  now  the  real  war  begins  —  the  war  of 
brains  against  brains.  Hitherto  we  have  had  a  mere 
war  of  the  brute  in  man.  The  brute  has  failed,  as 
the  brute  has  always  failed  to  do  more  than  eat  and 
drink  and  destroy.  It  Is  not  the  brute  In  man  which 
has  added  aught  to  the  progress  and  thought  and 
beauty  of  the  world.  His  work  has  been  uniformly 
destruction.    What  has  the  war  to  show  as  its 


224  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

achievement?  Nothing  but  the  charred  remains  of 
the  achievements  of  artists  and  builders,  the  broken 
hearts  of  women,  bereaved  famiHes  of  fatherless 
children.  Glory!  What  glory  is  there  in  such  an 
achievement  as  that?  Compare  with  it  the  master- 
pieces of  human  genius  destroyed.  And  now  the 
brute  in  man  is  to  subside  for  a  time,  and  the  war 
of  wits  is  to  begin.  And  whether  the  ignorant  blind- 
lings,  ambitious  politicians,  and  unscrupulous  ad- 
venturers who  engineered  the  War  have  obtained 
satisfaction  or  not,  the  real  war,  the  war  which  is 
to  emancipate  Europe  for  a  time  from  their  man- 
oeuvres, now  begins.  It  is  round  the  green  baize 
that  the  fate  of  nations  and  peoples  will  be  decided, 
and  all  the  War  will  have  been  in  vain. 

Ballin 

Yes;  yet  the  great  shipping  companies  have  to 
cut  rates  and  do  other  acts  of  hostility  before  they 
settle  down  to  a  conference. 

Professor 

That's  what  France  and  the  United  States  and 
Italy  and  Switzerland  did  with  their  customs  duties, 
till  they  came  to  terms.  But  even  that  was  only 
because  they  were  not  wise  enough  to  count  the 
cost.  {Em'phatically.)  But  they  did  not  sink  each 
other's  ships  and  destroy  ten  millions  of  the  youth 
of  the  world. 

Ballin 

Oh,  I  am  not  defending  war  of  any  kind,  even 
tariff  war  —  so  you  need  n't  be  so  emphatic. 


in.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  225 

Professor 

The  war  of  wits  may  take  almost  as  long  as  the 
brute  war,  and  I  believe  will  be  nearly  as  futile, 
because  there  are  too  many  conflicting  interests  for 
all  of  them  to  receive  satisfaction. 

Ballin 
That's  what  Biilow  has  said  all  along.- 

PROFESSOR 

His  Majesty  never  appreciated  Biilow  till  now, 
because  they  are  the  distance  of  the  poles  asunder. 
The  one  is  as  impatient  and  impetuous  as  the  other 
is  cautious  and  cold-blooded. 

Von  Etting 

A  wonderful  change  has  come  over  His  Majesty. 
If  you  want  to  go  back  into  the  crowd,  gentle- 
men, you  had  better  go  at  once.  As  soon  as  it 
reaches  certain  dimensions,  the  gates  will  be 
closed. 

[Exeunt  the  Professor  and  Ballin,  salut- 
ing. Noises  in  the  streets,  increasing  shouts^ 
shrill  voices  of  women,  and  more  shouting. 
VoN  Etting  closes  the  shutters  in  haste. 

Enter  the  Kaiser. 

Kaiser 

Why  have  you  closed  the  shutters  ? 

VoN  Etting 
I  thought  Your  Majesty  would  prefer  not  to  hear. 


226  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Kaiser 

Quite  the  contrary,  Etting.  Fetch  Her  Majesty. 
[Exit  Von  Etting.    The  Kaiser  walks  up 
and  down  the  room,  and  takes  out  a  scroll 
and  looks  at  it  from  time  to  time.  It  is  ap- 
parent he  is  memorising  a  speech.  Enter 
the  Kaiserin  followed  by  Von  Etting. 
The  Kaiser  kisses  her  hand. 
I  sent  for  you  to  hear  the  speech  I  am  going  to 
dehver  from  the  balcony. 

Kaiserin 

Oh,  William,  you  can't  go  on  to  the  balcony  with 
that  angry  crowd  below ! 

Kaiser 

My  mind's  made  up.  Etting,  is  the  Chancellor 
downstairs  ? 

VoN  Etting 
Yes,  Sir. 

Kaiser 
Tell  him  I  want  to  see  him  at  once. 

[Exit  Von  Etting. 
I  want  him  to  read  you  my  speech  before  I  de- 
liver it.  I  may  tell  you,  dear,  he  and  the  Professor 
have  advised  me  to  make  it.  The  Professor  wrote 
it  out  —  I  can't  write.  My  hand  trembles  as  if  it 
were  the  palsied  fist  of  an  old  man.  The  respon- 
sibility has  been  too  great  for  me.  Besides,  I  can 
only  exist  in  fresh  air  now. 

[Opening  the  shutters  and  windows  wide. 
Noise  again  becomes  audible.  Shouts  and 
shrill  voices. 


in.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  227 

Enter  the  Chancellor. 
Billow,  read  the  speech  to  the  Kaiserin. 

Kaiserin 
Don't  you  think  Willie  ought  to  hear  it? 

Kaiser 

Yes,  quite  right.  Where  is  he.?  Etting,  telephone! 

[Von  Etting  takes  receiver. 

Von  Etting 

Excellency  von  Etting.  His  Imperial  Highness 
gone  out  in  plain  clothes.?  Where.?  Don't  know.? 

Kaiserin 
Oh,  William,  I  hope  there's  nothing  wrong! 

Kaiser 

Probably  on  his  way  here.  He  could  n't  have 
gone  into  the  crowd  in  uniform.  The  police  know 
him  all  right.  Etting,  go  and  enquire.  {Exit  Von 
Etting.)  What  sort  of  crowd  is  it,  Biilow.? 

Chancellor 

Threatening,  but  unarmed,  and  the  guard  and 
the  police  are  all  loyal.  I  have  had  all  the  other 
troops  sent  out  of  town.  So  there  is  no  danger  of 
bloodshed. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

Kaiser 
Well? 


228  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

Von  Etting 

His  Imperial  Highness  has  not  been  seen  at  any 
of  the  entrances. 

Kaiser 

Well,  read  it,  Biilow,  and  it  can  be  read  to  the 
Crown  Prince  again  when  he  does  come. 

Chancellor  {reads) 

"When  I  last  addressed  you  from  this  bal- 
cony I  said  that  if  our  enemies  forced  Germany 
to  draw  the  sword  it  would  not  be  returned  to 
its  scabbard  without  honour. 

"The  hour  of  destiny  struck.  Germany 
drew  the  sword,  and  if  we  are  now  sheathing 
it,  we  are  doing  so  without  any  abatement  of 
our  glory.  Germany  has  seen  ranged  against 
her,  one  after  another,  all  the  Powers  of  the 
earth,  and  without  wavering  she  has  fought 
against  these  ever-increasing  odds. 

"We  are  not  beaten.  Yet  we  are  farther 
than  ever  from  victory. 

"This  war  has  been  a  gigantic  object-les- 
son in  the  futility  of  war.  We  have  experi- 
mented with  every  conceivable  engine  of  de- 
struction. We  have  tried  every  available 
method  of  intimidation.  We  have  climbed  into 
the  highest  reaches  of  the  air  and  descended 
into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  destroy  and 
to  daunt.  We  have  wrought  havoc  from  the 
unseen  depths  of  the  ocean.  Thousands  of 
innocent  lives  and  harmless  ships  have  been 


III.] 


In  Gremio  Deorum  229 


sacrificed  —  and  all  this  frantic  endeavour  of 
the  mental  and  physical  forces  of  a  nation  has 
only  had  the  effect  of  passing  novelty.  Equally 
effective  counter-effort  has  uniformly  foiled  us, 
and  all  our  engines  of  slaughter  and  devasta- 
tion have  only  served  as  steps  towards  more 
effective  effort  on  both  sides.  Intimidation 
has  only  added  to  the  number  of  pur  enemies 
and,  as  for  our  submarine  warfare,  It  has  col- 
lapsed, outraced  by  the  enemy's  shipyards, 
amid  the  loathing  of  the  brave  men  who  have 
had  to  carry  it  on  and  the  ridicule  of  the  world. 

"War  is  bankrupt.  War  can  no  longer  adjust 
the  differences  of  mankind.  Science  has  placed 
in  the  hands  of  friends  and  foes  alike  the  same 
means  of  destruction. 

"Why,  then,  continue  this  bloodshed,  which 
can  lead  to  nothing  but  further  bloodshed  till 
all  the  youth  of  Germany  is  dead,  wounded,  or 
prisoner  In  the  hands  and  lands  of  our  enemies  ^ 

"Germany  has  gone  through  a  terrible  trial, 
but  she  has  come  out  of  it  showing  that  the 
vast  majority  of  the  nation  have  the  political 
wisdom  in  time  of  trial  necessary  for  self-gov- 
ernment. The  nation  needs  that  self-govern- 
ment to  toughen  still  more  the  bonds  of  union 
this  War  has  forged.  I  have  granted  it  to  my 
faithful  subjects,  and  now  it  will  be  for  the 
whole  nation  to  advise  me  through  Its  consti- 
tutional representatives  whether  this  country 
shall  have  peace  or  continue  the  struggle.  It 
is  a  stupendous  responsibility.    I  dare  not  face 


230  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

it  alone,  and  I  am  thankful  to  my  Ministers 
and  my  Parliament  that  they  are  willing  to 
share  it  with  me. 

"Germany  will  resume  her  civilian  life  a 
wiser  nation,  and  therefore  a  better  and  a 
greater  one.  She  has  paid  for  her  wisdom,  and 
the  stout  hearts  of  her  citizens  will  do  the  rest. 

"At  the  outbreak  of  the  War  I  sent  you  to 
your  churches  to  pray  for  our  gallant  armies. 
I  now  ask  you  to  pray  for  peace,  a  peace  for 
centuries  to  come,  a  peace  not  only  between 
nations,  but  a  peace  which  will  secure  us 
against  bitterness  of  political  faction  and  strife 
within  the  boundaries  of  this  fair  land. 

"May  God's  blessing  attend  you  and  me  in 
this  new  endeavour  to  promote  the  cause  of 
right  and  justice,  and  to  secure  the  emancipa- 
tion of  humanity  from  the  curses  of  inter- 
national hatred,  unscrupulous  ambitions,  and 
the  ill-fated  delusion  that  war  can  ever  be 
but  the  sanction  of  crimes  against  God  and 
God's  creation." 

Kaiser 
Well,  is  that  all  right.? 

Chancellor 

I  think,  with  Her  Majesty,  that  His  Imperial 
Highness  should  know  to  what  he  is  pledged. 

Kaiser 

Listen!  Do  you  hear.^*  "The  Kaiser!  The  Kai- 
ser!"  They  are  clamouring  for  me.   Biilow,  those 


III.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  231 

are  not  angry  shouts.    {Listening.)  No,  they  are 
calling  for  their  leader.  I  must  go. 

Kaiserin  {trying  to  stop  him) 
William,  I  have  a  presentiment  of  danger! 

Kaiser 

Wife,  danger  is  not  a  reason  for  disobeying  the 
call  of  my  people. 

Kaiserin 
But  you  are  more  necessary  than  ever,  William. 

Kaiser 
You  are  mistaken. 

[The  Kaiserin  stands  back  aghast  at  the  Kai- 
ser's fierce  pallor.  Exit  the  Kaiser  with 
the  Kaiserin.  The  Chancellor  and  Von 
Etting  stand  at  doorway  and  listen.  The 
Kaiser's  voice  is  heard  for  a  few  seconds, 
then  there  are  several  shots  and  shrieks  and 
loud  voices.  The  ELaiser  staggers  in,  sup- 
ported by  the  Kaiserin  and  the  Chan- 
cellor. 

Kaiser 

Nothing  at  all  —  a  mere  bruise.  I  got  dizzy.  No, 
I  am  not  hit;  I  tottered  from  dizziness. 

Enter  Geheimrath  Von  Schultze. 

Von  Schultze 

Your  Majesty  will  be  good  enough  to  He  straight 
on  the  floor.    {Unbuttoning  and  feeling  him.)    It's 


232  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

all  right  —  absolute  rest!  {Apart  to  the  Chan- 
cellor.) There  may  be  one  in  the  muscle  of  the 
arm.  If  so,  it  will  be  stiff  in  half  an  hour.  {Apart  to 
the  Kaiserin.)  Get  His  Majesty  to  bed  as  fast  as 
possible. 

Kj^iser  {meanwhile  being  helped  to  his  feet  by  Von 
Etting  and  the  Chancellor) 

Etting!  See  whom  they  have  arrested.  {Exit 
Von  Etting.)  I  'm  all  right  again  —  a  little  stiff 
in  the  arm.  I  fell  against  the  wall.  What  the  devil 
did  the  idiots  want  to  fire  at  me  for?  Besides, 
Billow,  they  had  no  firearms,  you  said. 

Chancellor 

They  were  pistol-shots.  But  it  is  not  certain  that 
any  were  fired  at  Your  Majesty. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

Von  Etting 

A  few  boys  and  Liebknecht,  who  was  pointed 
out  to  the  police  by  his  friends  {sarcastically). 

Kaiser 

I  want  to  see  him.  By  the  by,  where 's  the  Pro- 
fessor? 

Professor  {just  entering) 
Here,  Sir.  [Exit  Von  Etting. 

Kaiser 
That's  right.  You  did  not  hear  the  speech. 


in.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  233 

Professor 
Yes,  Sir,  I  did.  I  was  in  the  crowd. 

Kaiser 
Well,  was  the  crowd  friendly? 

Professor 
Yes,  Sir,  to  you  personally. 

Enter  Von  Etting. 

Von  Etting 

The  guard  are  bringing  him  up. 

[Stamping  of  guard.   Door  thrown  open,  and 
LiEBKNECHT  in  handcuffs  enters. 

Kaiser 

Take  off  his  handcuffs.  {Officer  does  so.)  You 
don't  look  like  an  assassin.  You  are  Liebknecht? 

LiEBKNECHT 

Yes,  Sir. 

KIaiser 
What  did  you  want  to  kill  me  for? 

Liebknecht 

I  want  to  kill  you?  I  want  to  kill  nobody.  If 
shots  were  fired,  they  were  not  fired  by  anybody 
known  to  me. 

Kaiser 
Then  why  have  they  arrested  you  ? 


234  The  Sands  of  Fate  [m. 

LlEBKNECHT 

I  don't  know. 

Kaiser 
Have  you  heard  my  speech? 

LlEBKNECHT 

Nobody  could  hear  It. 

Kaiser 

Do  you  know  Its  tenor?  Do  you  know  I  am 
your  friend?  I  knew  your  father.  (Silence.)  He 
was  an  honourable  combatant,  and  though  I  have 
fought  him  and  you  and  all  your  gang  of  outlaws  all 
my  life,  the  son  of  old  Liebknecht,  who  stands  alone 
for  what  he  holds  to  be  right,  and  is  denounced 
by  his  fellows,  has  my  respect.  Officer,  Mr.  Lieb- 
knecht is  free. 

[Exit  Officer.  Liebknecht  salutes  and  exit. 

Exit  the  Kaiser  on  arms  of  the  Kaiserin 

and  VoN  Etting. 

Professor 

Thank  God,  that's  the  end  of  military  dreams 
in  Europe. 

Chancellor 

The  Kaiser  has  always  been  a  medley  of  contra- 
dictions. He  has  never  really  been  a  soldier.  He 
merely  loves  the  panache  as  a  woman  loves  a  fancy 
gown.   Is  this  the  twilight  or  the  dawn? 


III.]  In  Gremio  Deorum  235 

Professor 

Let  us  hope  It  may  mean  both,  and  that  there 
will  be  no  night  between. 

Chancellor 

In  any  case  it  Is  the  birth  of  Germany  as  a  civi- 
lised State  and  the  death  of  that  monstrum  ingens 
the  Prussian  oligarchy. 

Professor 
"The  Galilean  has  won." 

CURTAIN 


CHRONOLOGY 


CHRONOLOGY 

OF  EVENTS  ON   WHICH   THE   "PHANTASY" 

IS  FOUNDED 
1914. 

July  19.  The  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung  publishes  a 
note  stating  that  people  are  coming  more  and  more  to 
the  view  that  Austria-Hungary  is  justified  in  demand- 
ing a  clear  understanding  of  her  relations  with  Serbia. 
"We  concur  in  the  hope  expressed  on  diiferent  sides 
that  a  serious  crisis  will  be  avoided  by  speedy  action 
of  the  Serbian  Government.  In  any  case  the  common 
interest  of  Europe,  which  has  hitherto,  in  the  long- 
enduring  Balkan  crisis,  preserved  the  peace  among 
the  Great  Powers,  requires  that  the  discussion]  which 
may  arise  between  Austria-Hungary  and  Serbia  shall 
remain  localised." 

July  20.  The  Berliner  Tagehlatt  anticipates  "warm  weeks'* 
again  and  hopes  England  will  exert  influence  on  the 
Serbian  Government  and  not  encourage  Pan-Serbian 
propaganda. 

July  21.  Count  Berchtold,  who  spends  an  hour  with  the  Em- 
peror at  Ischl,  submits  to  His  Majesty  the  note  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Government  is  about  to  hand  in 
to  the  Belgrade  Government.  He  had  sounded  Cabi- 
nets of  European  States  concerned  and  found  them 
favourable  to  the  proposed  step.  {Vossische  Zeitung.) 
According  to  Tdglische  Rundschau,  Serbia  and  Mon- 
tenegro are  preparing  feverishly  for  war. 

July  22.         Strikes  in  Russia.    {Times.) 

Berliner  Tageblatt  announces  from  Prague  that  offi- 
cials are  returning  to  their  posts  and  it  is  expected 
that  trouble  will  follow  the  handing  of  the  Austrian 
note  to  the  Serbian  Government. 

July  23.  Austrian  ultimatum  handed  in  at  Belgrade  at  6  p.m. 
with  forty-eight  hours  peremptory  notice. 

The  Times  correspondent  at  The  Hague  reports 
that  Mr.  A.  R.  Zimmermann,  the  Burgomaster  of 
Rotterdam,   had  made  to  him  the  following  state- 


240  Chronology 


ment  in  regard  to  the  licence  recently  granted  by  the 
Dutch  Government  to  a  German  undertaking,  the 
Vulkan  Company,  for  the  construction  of  a  private 
harbour  near  Vlaardingen  on  the  New  Waterway,  a 
few  miles  west  of  Rotterdam.  "The  Government," 
said  the  Burgomaster,  "has  taken  a  decision  which  in 
my  opinion  will  prove  to  be  most  important  and  in  its 
consequences  more  far-reaching  than  any  action  taken 
by  the  central  authority  for  some  time.  They  have 
granted  to  the  Vulkan  Company  —  in  other  words,  to 
Mr.  Thyssen,  for  the  two  names  are  practically  syn- 
onymous —  a  licence  to  establish  a  private  harbour 
on  the  New  Waterway  at  Vlaardingen.  The  harbour 
will  be  available  for  ocean-going  vessels  and  will  be 
equipped  for  dealing  with  coal  and  ore.  The  ground 
will  also  be  large  enough  to  allow  for  repairing-shops 
and  a  repairing-wharf.  From  this  and  from  the  fact 
that  the  New  Waterway  is  one  of  the  most  important 
outlets  to  the  sea  on  the  whole  Continent  of  Europe, 
it  will  be  seen  that  this  development  is  of  great  impor- 
tance. All  the  more  so  in  that  this  action  on  the  part 
of  the  Government  constitutes  a  departure  from  the 
principles  which  hitherto  have  governed  the  adminis- 
tration of  all  harbours,  docks,  and  waterways  in  Hol- 
land —  namely,  that  they  should  be  under  public  con- 
trol. Administered  on  these  lines,  the  Dutch  have 
become  great,  and  Rotterdam  itself  has  become  the 
second  port  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  For  a  small 
country  these  principles  have  obvious  advantages; 
under  any  other  system  important  docks  and  harbours 
could  be  sold  to  any  one  irrespective  of  nationality. 
Rather  more  than  two  years  ago  Mr.  Thyssen  made 
great  efforts  to  obtain  an  independent  position  on  the 
Waterway.  It  was  soon  made  evident  that  the  entire 
public  opinion  of  Rotterdam  was  strongly  opposed 
to  the  scheme.  The  City  Council  unanimously  re- 
quested the  Burgomaster  and  Aldermen  to  use  every 
means  at  their  disposal  to  oppose  the  establishment 
of  private  docks,  and  this  the  city  authorities  have 
done.  Nevertheless,  the  Government  has  now  granted 
a  licence  to  a  German  firm  which  is  a  rival,  if  not  in 
some  respects  superior,  to  Krupp." 
The  Burgomaster  declined  to  express  to  the  corre- 


Chronology  241 


spondent  his  opinion  as  to  the  future.  As  a  magistrate, 
he  said,  it  was  not  for  him  to  criticise  the  action  of 
the  Government  or  to  point  out  international  conse- 
quences.   {Times,  July  24,  1914.) 
July  24.         Breakdown  of  the  Ulster-Home-Rule  negotiations. 

The  Times  correspondent  at  The  Hague  wires  that 
the  announcement  of  the  Thyssen  concession,  where- 
under  a  German  harbour  is  to  be  constructed  on  the 
New  Waterway,  has  caused  deep  concern  there.  Strong 
comments  are  made  about  the  granting  of  the  conces- 
sion while  the  Chamber  is  in  recess  and  the  Gov- 
ernment can  escape  interpellation.  According  to  the 
Nieuwe  Rotterdamsche  Courant,  the  Minister  respon- 
sible had  promised  Parliament  that  he  would  intro- 
duce legislation  to  insure  harbours  remaining  under 
public  control,  but  after  giving  the  promise  he  did 
nothing.  No  sooner,  however,  had  the  recess  begun 
than  the  Thyssen  licence  was  granted. 

Prince  Regent  of  Serbia  to  Czar:  "II  nous  est  im- 
possible de  nous  defendre  et  nous  supplions  Votre 
Majeste  de  nous  donner  aide  le  plus  tot  possible." 
July  25.  The  Times  correspondent  at  Belfast  reports  that 
"all  preparations  have  been  made  for  the  institution 
of  the  Provisional  Government,  but  that  it  would  only 
be  resorted  to  as  a  final  move  in  the  event  of  its  being 
made  perfectly  clear  that  Ulster  is  to  be  put  under  a 
form  of  government  to  which  it  will  not  submit." 

He  adds  that,  "though  for  the  present  peace  con- 
tinues, there  is,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  no  change  in  the 
spirit  of  Protestant  Ulster.  The  War  Office  Order 
published  to-day,  in  which  Reservists  are  forbidden  to 
take  any  part  in  the  Volunteer  movement,  has  been 
greeted  with  contempt.  An  officer  of  the  Ulster  Vol- 
unteers of  high  standing  told  me  that  the  Order  was 
the  subject  of  laughter  and  ridicule,  and  that  not  a 
single  man  would  pay  the  smallest  attention  to  it." 

The  Times  Dublin  correspondent  wires  that  Union- 
ists "believe  that  a  General  Election  is  now  inevitable. 
They  refuse  to  think  that  the  country  will  allow  the 
Government  to  involve  it  in  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 
Everybody  admits,  however,  that  a  situation  of  the 
gravest  kind  has  been  created  by  the  failure  of  the 
Conference.  It  will  stimulate  the  activities  of  the  Na- 


242 


Chronology 


tional  Volunteers  and  it  may  precipitate  a  forward 
step  in  Ulster.  Nobody  here  will  be  surprised  if  the 
Provisional  Government  now  asserts  itself  in  a  man- 
ner which  must  bring  matters  to  a  head.  The  posi- 
tion in  Ireland  has  become  so  critical  that  it  must 
rapidly  get  either  better  or  worse." 
July  25.         Kaiser  leaves  Balestrand,  6.30  p.m. 

Chancellor  arrives  at  night  from  Hohen  Finow. 

At  6.30  P.M.  Austrian  Minister  leaves  Belgrade. 

Russian    Charge    d 'Affaires    at    Vienna    wires    St. 
Petersburg  that  Count  Berchtold  is  at  Ischl.  _ 

Serbia   hands  in  reply  to  Austro-Hungarian  ulti- 
matum within  the  forty-eight  hours. 

Austn-Hungarian  demands?  Serbian  reply. 

(i)  That  the  Serbian  Government  give  a 
solemn  assurance  concerning  Serbian 
propaganda  against  the  Dual  Monarchy.         Accepted. 

(2)  That  a  Declaration  to  this  effect  be  pub- 
lished on  the  front  page  of  the  Serbian 

OfRcial  Journal  of  following  Sunday.  Accepted. 

(3)  That  the  Declaration  also  express  regret 
that  Serbian  officers  and  officials  took 
part  in  the  anti-Austro-Hungarian 
propaganda.  Accepted. 

(4)  That  the  Serbian  Government  promise 
to  proceed  with  the  utmost  rigour  against 

all  guilty  persons.  Accepted. 

(5)  That  this  Declaration  be  simultane- 
ously communicated  by  the  King  of 
Serbia  to  his  Army  and  be  pubhshed  in 

the  Army  Official  Bulletin.  Accepted. 

(6)  That  all  Serbian  publications  inciting  to 
hatred  and  contempt  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary be  suppressed.  Accepted. 

(7)  That  the  Society  known  as  the  Narodna 
Obrana  (National  Union)  be  dissolved 
and  its  means  of  propaganda  confis- 
cated. Accepted. 

(8)  That  teachers  and  teaching  ,in  Serbia 
which  tend  to  foment  ill-feeling  against 
Austria-Hungary  be  eliminated.  Accepted. 

(9)  That  all  officers  and  officials  guilty  of 
propaganda  against  Austria-Hungary  be 

,   *  This  table  is  based  on  that  published  in  the  Times  of  July  27, 1914. 


Chronology  243 


dismissed  from  the  public  service,  the         Accepted 
Austro-Hungarian        Government       to         subject  to 
communicate  to  Serbia  the  names  and         result  of 
doings  of  such  officials  and  officers.  evidence. 

(10)  That  representatives  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary shall  assist  Serbia  in  suppressing  in 
Serbia  the  movement  directed  against 
the  territorial  integrity  of  the  Dual  Mon- 
archy and  take  part  in  the  judicial  pro-  Rejected 
ceedings  on  Serbian  territory  against  condition- 
persons  accessory  to  the  Serajevo  crime.  ally. 

(11)  Serbia  to  give  Austro-Hungarian  Govern- 
ment explanations  as  to  the  utterances 

of  high  Serbian  officials  in  Serbia   and        Not  ac-    • 
abroad  who  had  spoken  disparagingly  of         cepted 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  after        ^Uel 
the  Serajevo  crime.  quel." 

July  15.  Sazonoff  issues  note  stating  that  he  feels  sure  that 
England  "ne  tardera  pas  de  se  ranger  du  cote  de  la 
Russie  et  de  la  France  en  vue  de  maintenir  I'equilibre 
europeen."   (Russian  Red  Book,  p.  19.) 

Germany  denies  by  note  verbale  having  had  any  knovi^l- 
edge  of  the  "text  of  the  Austrian  note"  "avant  qu'elle 
ait  ete  remise,"  and  alleges  that"ellen'a  exerce  aucune 
influence  sur  son  contenu." 
July  26.         Kaiser  expected  "to-night"  at  Berlin. 

Von  Moltke  arrives  at  Berlin  from  Carlsbad. 

Czar  has  not  abandoned  cruise  in  Finnish  skerries. 
{Times.) 

Berlin  crowd  manifest  in  front  of  Austrian  Em- 
bassy; hostile  cries  in  front  of  Russian  Embassy. 

Austrian  mobilisation  decreed,  (Russian  Consul  at 
Prague,  to  St.  Petersburg.) 
July  27.         Kaiser  reaches  Potsdam  from  Kiel,  by  special  train, 
at  three  in  the  afternoon.     Drives   to  Neues-Palais. 
Receives  Chancellor  immediately. 

Kreuz-Zeitung  of  the   28th    announces   Kaiser   in- 
tended to  go  from  Potsdam  to  Wilhelmshohe  as  usual. 

Von  Schoen  requests  France  to  act  with  Germany 
in  a  moderating  sense  at  St.  Petersburg. 

Czar  announced  to  have  left  for  his  cruise. 

Buchanan  wires  Grey  that  Sazonoff  proposes  direct 
conversation  with  Vienna. 

Goschen  wires  Grey  that  Sazonoff  intends  exchang- 
ing views  with  Berchtold  direct. 


244  Chronology 


July  27.         Bunsen  wires  Grey  that  Sazonoff  had  practically 
reached    an    understanding    with    Austro-Hungarian 
Ambassador. 
July  28.         Chancellor  visits  Kaiser  at  Potsdam  in  morning. 

Chancellor  and  Minister  of  War  visit  him  in  after- 
noon. 

Austria-Hungary  declares  war  on  Serbia. 

Sazonoff  telegraphs  to  Russian  Ambassador  at  Ber- 
lin: "In  consequence  of  Austro-Hungarian  declara- 
tion of  war  against  Serbia,  mobilisation  to-morrow  in 
military  districts  of  Odessa,  Kief,  Moscow,  and  Kasan." 
Assures    mobilisation    not    aimed    against    Germany. 

Direct  negotiations  between  St.  Petersburg  and 
Vienna  broken  off. 

Chancellor  sends  for  Goschen  about  Russian  mobili- 
sation of  fourteen  army  corps.  Points  out  that  Ser- 
bian question  is  a  purely  Austrian  concern. 

Bunsen  wires  Grey  that  Berchtold  declares  Austria- 
Hungary  cannot  delay  war  measures  against  Serbia 
and  declines  negotiations  on  basis  of  Serbian  reply. 

Grey  telegraphs  Goschen  and  Buchanan  that  Sazon- 
off has  proposed  friendly  exchange  of  views  to  Austrian 
Government. 

Serbian  Charge  d 'Affaires  at  Rome  informs  Minis- 
ter for  Austria-Hungary  that  Serbia  might  still,  sub- 
ject to  some  explanation  as  to  proposed  intervention 
of  Austrian  agents,  accept  whole  Austro-Hungarian 
note. 

Bunsen  telegraphs  Grey  that  Russian  Ambassador 
had  informed  him  Austro-Hungarian  Government 
did  not  accept  direct  discussion  between  Sazonoff  and 
Austrian  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg. 

Austro-Hungarian  Ambassador  at  Berlin  tells  Go- 
schen that  Russia  is  not  in  a  position  to  make  war. 

(N.B.  No  German  paper  publishes  Serbian  reply 
in  extenso.) 

At  10.45  P.M.  Kaiser  sends  first  telegram  to  Czar, 
which  was  as  follows:  — 

I  have  heard  with  the  greatest  anxiety  of  the  impression 
which  is  caused  by  the  action  of  Austria-Hungary  against 
Serbia.  The  unscrupulous  agitation  which  has  been  going 
on  for  years  in  Serbia  has  led  to  the  revolting  crime  of 
which  Archduke  Franz  Ferdinand  has  become  a  victim. 


Chronology  245 


The  spirit  which  made  the  Serbians'murder  their  own  King 
and  his  consort  still  dominates  that  country.  Doubtless, 
you  will  agree  with  me  that  both  of  us,  you  as  well  as  I, 
and  all  other  sovereigns,  have  a  common  interest  to  insist 
that  all  those  who  are  responsible  for  this  horrible  murder 
shall  suffer  their  deserved  punishment.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  by  no  means  overlook  the  difficulty  encountered  by  you 
and  your  Government  to  stem  the  tide  of  public  opinion. 
In  view  of  the  cordial  friendship  which  has  joined  us  both 
for  a  long  time  with  firm  ties,  I  shall  use  my  entire  influence 
to  induce  Austria-Hungary  to  obtain  a  frank  and  satisfac- 
tory understanding  with  Russia.  I  hope  confidently  that 
you  will  support  me  in  my  efforts  to  overcome  all  diffi- 
culties which  may  yet  arise. 

Your  most  sincere  and  devoted  friend  and  cousin, 

William. 

July  28.         SazonoflF  wires  impression  that  Germany  "plutot 
favorable  a  I'intransigeance   de  I'Autriche;  attitude 
j  •  allemande  particulierement  alarmante." 

July  29.         Prince  Henry  arrives  from  England. 

Military  and  Naval  Council  at  Potsdam. 

I  P.M.  Czar  telegraphs  to  Kaiser. 

Chancellor  sends  for  Goschen;  says  it  is  too  late  to 
discuss  on  basis  of  Serbian  reply.  Assurances  of  desire 
for  peace. 

Buchanan  wires  Grey  that  SazonoflF  says  direct  nego- 
tiation with  Vienna  has  been  proposed  by  German 
Ambassador. 

Goschen  wires  Grey  that  Von  Jagow  thinks  sug- 
gestion of  making  Serbia's  reply  basis  of  negotiations 
might  have  precipitated  the  declaration  of  war. 

Crown  Prince  arrives  at  Potsdam  in  the  morning. 
Passes  an  hour  with  Kaiser  and  Kaiserin.    Then  re- 
turns to  Marmor-Palais.   Kaiser  takes  a  short  walk  in 
,  Park  of  Sans-Souci. 

Bunsen  wires  Grey  of  mobilisation  of  Russian  corps, 
ordered  to  operate  on  Austrian  frontier. 

Buchanan  telegraphs  Grey  that  SazonoflF  says  order 
for  mobilisation  against  Austria  will  be  issued  day 
Austria  crosses  Serbian  frontier. 

Chancellor  wires  Lichnowsky  to  tell  Grey  that  he 
is  endeavouring  to  mediate  between  Vienna  and  St. 
Petersburg. 

Kaiser  telegraphs  to  Czar,  6.30  p.m. 


246 


Chronology 


July  29.         Chancellor  sends  for  Goschen  (night).   He  had  just 
returned  from  Potsdam.    Makes  bid  for  British  neu- 
trality.   Declares  Germany  bound  to  assist  Austria- 
Hungary  if  attacked  by  Russia. 
Sazonoff  to  Iswolsky:  — 

The  German  Ambassador  to-day  informed  me  of  the 
decision  of  his  Government  to  mobilise  if  Russia  does  not 
stop  her  military  preparations.  Now,  in  point  of  fact,  we 
only  began  these  preparations  in  consequence  of  the  mobil- 
isation already  undertaken  by  Austria,  and  owing  to  her 
evident  unwillingness  to  accept  any  means  of  arriving  at 
a  peaceful  settlement  of  her  dispute  with  Serbia.  As  we 
cannot  comply  with  the  wishes  of  Germany,  we  have  no 
alternative  but  to  hasten  on  our  own  military  preparations 
and  to  assume  that  war  is  probably  inevitable.  Please  in- 
form the  French  Government  of  this  and  add  that  we  are 
sincerely  grateful  to  them  for  the  declaration  which  the 
French  Ambassador  made  to  me  on  their  behalf,  to  the 
effect  that  we  could  count  fully  upon  the  assistance  of  our 
ally,  France.  In  the  existing  circumstances,  that  declara- 
tion is  especially  valuable  to  us. 

(Communicated  to  the  Russian  Ambassadors  in 
Great  Britain,  Austria-Hungary,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many.) 

Queen  Sophia  of  Greece,  who  was  at  Eastbourne 
and  was  to  go  on  a  visit  to  Potsdam,  returns  direct  to 
Greece. 
July  30.         At  I  A.M.  Kaiser  telegraphs  to  Czar,  who  is  at  Peter- 
hof. 

Sazonoff  sees  Czar  at  Peterhof  in  the  morning. 

Crown  Princess  arrives  at  Potsdam  from  Mecklen- 
burg. 

At  I  P.M.  Czar  telegraphs  to  Kaiser. 

German  Ambassador  enquires  on  what  conditions 
Russia  would  consent  to  suspend  armaments.  Sazon- 
off dictates  to  him  the  following  formula:  — 

Si  I'Autriche,  reconnaissant  que  la  question  austro-serbe 
a  assume  le  carac-tere  d'une  question  europeenne,  se  de- 
clare prete  a  eliminer  de  son  ultimatum  les  points  qui 
portent  atteinte  aux  droits  souverains  de  la  Serbie,  la 
Russie  s'engagent  a  cesser  ses  preparatifs  militaires. 

Russian  Ambassador  at  Berlin  wires  that  German 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  finds  formula  "inaccep- 
table  pour  I'Autriche." 


Chronology  247 


July  30.  Goschen  telegraphs  Grey  that  he  has  been  sent  for 
by  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  Latter  suggested 
that  Grey  should  get  Russia  to  agree  to  accept  media- 
tion on  basis  of  occupation  of  Belgrade,  no  further 
steps  to  be  taken.  European  peace  might  then  be  pre- 
served.  He  knew  France  did  not  want  war. 

German  Ambassador  at  Rome  told  Rodd  that  Ser- 
bia might  demand  peace  on  occupation  of  Belgrade 
and  Germany  might  then  devise  formula. 

Grey  wires  Buchanan  that  Lichnowsky  had  in- 
formed him  that  Germany  would  endeavour  to  influ- 
ence Austria,  after  occupation  of  Belgrade,  to  promise 
not  to  advance  farther  while  Powers  endeavoured  to 
arrange  satisfaction  to  Austria. 

Grey  declines  Chancellor's  bid  for  British  neutrality. 
Makes  counter-proposal  to  assure  Germany  against 
aggressive  policy  by  France,  Russia,  and  England 
jointly  or  severally. 

Poincare  informs  Bertie  that  Russian  Government 
had  been  informed  by  Germany  that  unless  mobilisa- 
tion stopped,  she  would  mobilise.  This  was  modi- 
fied to  requesting  to  be  informed  on  what  terms  Rus- 
sia would  demobilise.  Answer  was,  that  Austria  give 
assurance  that  she  would  respect  Serbia's  sovereignty 
and  submit  certain  of  her  demands  to  international 
discussion.  Urged  England  to  inform  Germany  that 
she  would  aid  France.  This  would  assure  peace. 

At  midday  Emperor  Franz  Josef,  from  Ischl,  and 
heir  to  throne  arrive  at  Vienna  and  alight  at  Schoen- 
brunn. 
July  31.         Kaiser  moves  to  Berlin. 

Czar  telegraphs  to  Kaiser  (hour  not  given). 

Kaiser  telegraphs  to  Czar,  2  p.m. 

Kaiser  makes  speech  from  balcony  of  Schloss. 

Goschen  wires  Grey  that  Chancellor  told  him  that 
he  was  about  to  confer  with  Kaiser  and  that  Russia 
was  making  active  military  preparations  on  frontier 
in  spite  of  Czar's  appeal  to  Kaiser. 

Goschen  wires  Grey  that  he  had  spent  an  hour  with 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  Impossible  to  consider 
any  proposal  until  answer  from  Russia  as  to  counter- 
manding mobilisation. 

Buchanan  wires  Grey  that  Russia  decided  to  mobil- 


248  Chronology 


ise  because  Austria  was  moving  troops  against  Russia 
as  well  as  Serbia. 
July  31.         Orders  given  at  St.  Petersburg  for  general  mobilisa- 
tion. 

Goschen,  later,  wires  Grey  that  Russia  is  mobilis- 
ing generally.  Berchtold,  as  regards  Grey's  proposal, 
was  to  get  the  Emperor's  instructions  "this  morn- 
ing." 

German  Government  decrees  Krie gs gefahrzustand. 

Bunsen  wires  Grey  that  Forgach  (Under-Secretary) 
still  hopes  for  preservation  of  peace.  Telegrams  pass- 
ing between  Kaiser  and  Czar  and  St.  Petersburg  and 
Vienna. 

Lichnowsky  informs  Grey  that  discussion  has  been 
resumed  between  St.  Petersburg  and  Vienna. 

Buchanan  wires  Russian  formula  as  follows:  — 

•  Si  I'Autriche  consent  a  arreter  la  marche  de  ses  armees 
sur  le  territoire  serbe,  et  si,  reconnaissant  que  le  conflit 
austro-serbe  a  assume  le  caractere  d'une  question  d'interet 
europeen,  elle  admet  que  les  Grandes  Puissances  examinent 
la  satisfaction  que  la  Serbie  pourrait  accorder  au  gouverne- 
ment  d'Autriche-Hongrie  sans  laisser  porter  attenite  a  ses 
droits  d'Etat  souverain  et  a  son  independance,  la  Russie 
s'engage  a  conserver  son  attitude  expectante. 

German  Government  wires  twelve  hours  ultima- 
tum to  St.  Petersburg. 

German  Government  wires  Paris  asking  whether 
France  intends  to  remain  neutral,  with  eighteen  hours 
for  reply. 

Von  Schoen  gives  notice  to  France  requiring  declara- 
tion as  to  her  neutrality  within  eighteen  hours,  delay 
expiring  on  Saturday  at  i  p.m. 

British  Government  enquires  of  French  and  Ger- 
man Governments  whether  they  intend  to  respect 
Belgian  neutrality. 
Aug.  I.  Czar  telegraphs  to  Kaiser,  2  p.m. 

Kaiser  telegraphs  to  Czar  (no  hour  given). 

Bertie  wires  Grey  that  President  Poincare  told  him 
Russian  general  mobilisation  followed  Austro-Hun- 
garian. 

I  P.M.  Von  Schoen  telegraphs  Chancellor  that  Prime 
Minister,  in  answer  to  his  enquiry,  had  declared, 
"France  would  do  what  her  interests  dictated." 


Chronology  249 

Aug.  I.  5  P.M.    French  notice  of  mobilisation  (orders  given 

at  3.40  P.M.). 

Viviani  declares  this  had  become  necessary  owing 
to  German  mobilisation.  Under  Kriegsgefahrzustand 
the  Germans  had  called  up  six  classes.  Three  were 
sufficient  to  bring  their  covering  troops  up  to  war 
strength.  Remaining  three  being  reserves,  this  was 
mobilisation  under  another  name. 

Sazonoff  sends  secret  wire  that  German  Ambassa- 
dor had  declared  at  twelve  midnight  that  if  within 
twelve  hours  (midday)  Russia  did  not  commence  de- 
mobilisation, Germanjr  would  mobilise. 

Goschen  wires  Grey  that  Germany's  orders  are  given 
for  mobilisation,  navy  and  army,  first  day,  August  2. 

Berlin  correspondent  of  the  Times  wires  that  the 
Kaiser  and  members  of  the  Royal  Family  drove  into 
Berlin  from  Potsdam  towards  three  o'clock  and  had  a 
tremendous  reception.  "They  passed  in  open  motor- 
cars down  the  great  middle  way  of  Unter  den  Linden, 
which  is  reserved  for  ceremonial  occasions.  The  first 
car  contained  the  Emperor,  wearing  the  full-dress  uni- 
form of  Cuirassiers  of  the  Guard,  and  the  Empress, 
who  wore  a  claret-coloured  dress.  The  Emperor, 
whose  face  was  very  grave,  kept  his  hand  at  the  salute 
all  the  way  down,  while  the  Empress  bowed  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  cheers  of  the  vast  crowd."  (Times, 
August  3,  1914.) 

Bunsen  wires  Grey  of  general  mobilisation  of  Aus- 
trian army  and  fleet. 

\     Mensdorfl  tells  Grey  that  Austria  had  not  "banged 
the  door"  on  compromise. 

Grey  wires  Goschen  that  "  Sazonoff  announces  that 
Austrian  Ambassador  declared  readiness  of  his  Gov- 
ernment to  discuss  substance  of  Austrian  ultimatum 
to  Serbia.  SazonoflF  proposes  discussion  take  place  in 
London."    (Communicated  to  the  Powers.) 

Grey  wires  Buchanan  that  Austrian  Government 
has  informed  German  Government  of  its  readiness  to 
negotiate,  if  Russia  will  stop  mobilising;  preservation 
of  peace  seems  possible. 

Austro-Hungarian  Ambassador  calls  on  M.  Viviani 
and  declares  Austria's  readiness  to  discuss  "fond  du 
conflit"  with  the  other  Powers. 


250  Chronology 


Aug.  I.  Bunsen  declares  (in  his  despatch  to  Grey  of  Sep- 

tember l)  that  Russian  Ambassador  (Schekebo)  in- 
formed him  that  Russia  and  Austria  were  practically 
agreed. 

Mensdorff  calls  Grey's  special  attention  to  fact  that 
conversations  with  St.  Petersburg  had  not  been 
broken  off  by  Austria  and  that  latter  had  given  assur- 
ance to  Russia  that  neither  an  infraction  of  Serbia's 
sovereign  rights  nor  acquisition  of  Serbia's  territory 
was  contemplated. 

Count  Szapary  (Austrian  Ambassador  at  St.  Peters- 
burg) to  Count  Berchtold:  — 

Petersburg,  ist  August. 
At  an  interview  to-day  with  Sazonoff,  I  informed  him  I 
had  received  instructions,  but  I  had  first  to  point  out  that 
I  did  not  know  what  was  the  present  situation  at  Vienna 
created  by  the  Russian  general  m.obilisation.  My  communi- 
cation was,  therefore,  subject  to  this.  I  said  that  your  com- 
munications treated  of  the  misunderstanding  as  if  we  had 
rejected  further  negotiations  with  Russia.  This  I  assured 
him  was  a  mistake.  Your  Excellency  was  not  only  quite 
ready  to  negotiate  with  Russia  on  the  widest  basis,  but  was 
also  in  particular  inclined  to  submit  our  Notentext  to  dis- 
cussion in  so  far  as  its  interpretation  was  concerned. 

Sazonoff  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  this  proof  of 
good-will,  but  he  thought  that  success  was  more  likely 
to  be  achieved  on  the  neutral  ground  of  London. 

Goschen  wires  Grey  that  he  had  argued  that  Ger- 
many had  only  to  wait  while  Austria  and  Russia  were 
coming  to  terms.  Secretary  of  State  says  Germany 
could  not  wait,  as  she  had  speed  and  Russia  numbers. 

At  7.10  P.M.  German  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg 
delivers  declaration  of  war  to  Russia. 
Aug.  2.  German  force  enters  Grand  Duchy  of  Luxemburg. 

Grey  gives  Cambon  assurance  regarding  protection 
of  Channel   and  hostile   naval  operations  generally 
against  France. 
Aug.  3.  France  offers  Belgium  five  army  corps.  Belgium  de- 

clines them. 

Italy  replies  to  Germany  that,  latter  having  declared 
aggressive  character  of  Austria's  action,  she  was  not 
bound  by  her  purely  defensive  alliance. 
Aug.  4.  Germany  invades  Belgium. 


Chronology  251 


Aug.  4.  Goschen  has  several  interviews  at  Wiihelmstrasse 
endeavouring  to  persuade  Germany  to  draw  back,  but 
in  vain,  and  asks  for  his  passports.  Handed  in  tele- 
graphic report  at  nine,  which  never  reached  Foreign 
Office. 

The  form  of  British  declaration  of  war  was  that 
unless  Germany  undertook  not  to  proceed  farther  in 
Belgium,  British  Government  would  have  to  take  all 
steps  to  uphold  Belgium's  neutrality. 

Aug.  7.  Russian  Ambassador  (Schekebo)  at  Vienna  leaves 
Embassy,  Berchtold  stating  that,  in  view  of  menacing 
attitude  of  Russia  in  Austro-Serbian  conflict  and  "the 
fact  that  Russia  had  commenced  hostilities  against 
Germany,"  Austria-Hungary  considered  herself  also 
at  war  with  Russia. 

Aug.    12.       Dumaine  (French  Ambassador)  leaves  Vienna. 

Bunsen  and  Mensdorff  leave  Vienna  and  London 
respectively, 

Dec.  5.  •  According  to  Giolitti's  speech  of  this  date,  Austria 
had  prepared  an  ultimatum  to  Serbia  in  August,  191 3, 
and  asked  Italy  if  she  would  support  her  if  she  went 
to  war.   Italy  did  not  consider  this  a  "casus  foederis." 

1915. 

Jan.  13.  Count  Berchtold  resigns.  Succeeded  by  Baron 
Stephen  Burian. 

Jan.    23.       Baron  Burian  visits  Berlin. 

March  I.  Germans  accuse  the  French  of  using  shells  which 
discharge  an  asphyxiating  gas. 

April  8.  Conditions  of  agreement  communicated  by  Sonnino 
to  Austria-Hungary  stipulate  that  Trieste  and  ad- 
joining territory  be  constituted  into  an  autonomous 
and  independent  state  and  "porto  franco."  No  mili- 
tary, either  Austrian  or  Italian,  to  enter  it.  Italian 
sovereignty  over  Valona  to  be  recognized  by  Austria- 
Hungary.  Austria-Hungary  to  give  up  all  interest  in 
Albania.  Trentino  to  be  ceded  up  to  boundaries  ac- 
cording to  Treaty  of  February  28,  1 8 10. 

April  10.  Squitti  (Italian  Minister  at  Nisch)  telegraphs  that, 
according  to  confidential  information,  separate  peace 
between  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia  is  possible. 

April  12.  Germans  accuse  Russians  of  using  shells  which  dis- 
charge asphyxiating  gas. 


252  Chronology 

April  13.  Telegram  similar  to  that  of  Squitti  from  Cucchi 
(Italian  Minister  at  Sofia),  object  being  for  Austria- 
Hungary  to  have  her  hands  free  to  deal  with  Italy. 

April  15.  Bellati  (Italian  Ambassador  at  Berlin)  telegraphs 
that  people  are  speaking  of  separate  peace  between 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia. 

April    16.       Germans  renew  accusation  of  the  French  using  as- 
and  21.  phyxiating  gas. 

April  22,  General  warning  issued  by  German  Embassy  at 
Washington  against  travelling  by  English  liners. 

Warning  specially  repeated  in  respect  of  the  Lusi- 
tania. 

Germans  use  asphyxiating  gas  and  gain  nine  kilo- 
metres. 

May  Lusitania  sails. 

May  3.  Sonnino  (Italian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs)  de- 
clares Treaty  of  Alliance  between  Italy  and  Austria- 
Hungary  cancelled. 

May  4.  Notification  of  cancellation  communicated  to  Baron 
Burian. 

May  7.  Japan  delivers  ultimatum  to  China,  forty-eight 
hours  for  reply. 

Lusitania  torpedoed. 

May     8.       Kaiser  on  southeastern  front. 

Von  Billow  has  hour's  audience  of  King  of  Italy. 

May      9.       China  accepts  Japan's  ultimatum. 

May   II.       At  Milan  demonstration  against  German  Consulate. 

May  12.  Demonstration  at  Rome  against  Giolitti  as  cham- 
pion of  peace. 

May  13.  Demonstration  at  Rome  against  Giolitti  and  neu- 
trality. 

May   16.       D'AnnunzIo,  the  famous  Italian  writer,  speaks  In 
same  sense  in  the  Costanzi  theatre.    Demonstrations 
at  Florence  and  Venice  follow.    Processions  with  cof- 
fins bearing  flags,  "Here  lies  with  Giolitti  the  dignity 
i  of  Italy."_ 

The  Giornale  d^ Italia  states  that  an  Anglo-Italian 
agreement  for  immediate  attack  by  Italy  has  been  con- 
cluded. 

May  17.  The  Popolo  d' Italia  (Milan)  states  that  alliance  with 
Austria-Hungary  was  cancelled  on  May  4,  and  that 
agreement  is  now  made  with  Allies  to  attack  Austria- 
Hungary  on  May  24. 


Chronology  253 


May  17.  Manifestation  in  favour  of  war  at  Naples,  two  hun- 
dred professors  and  the  Rector  of  University  at  their 
head.  Manifestations  at  Padua  and  Parma.  At 
Palermo  attack  on  German  Consulate.  In  Turin  state 
of  siege  declared  on  account  of  barricades  and  fighting 
between  rival  partisans. 

May  18.  Von  Bethmann-HoUweg  states  in  Reichstag  that 
Austria-Hungary  was  prepared  {inter  alia)  to  allow 
Trieste  to  have  an  Italian  university  and  be  a  free 
port  with  an  Italian  administration. 

At  Rome  fifty  thousand  persons  manifest  in  favour 
of  war,  headed  by  Mayor  Colonna  and  addressed  by 
D  'Annunzio. 

May  20.  At  sitting  of  Chamber,  Italian  Socialists  declare 
they  will  vote  against  the  war,  but,  if  declared,  they 
will  do  their  best  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy  and  successful 
conclusion. 

Mr.  Asquith  announces  that  steps  are  being  taken 
to  place  Government  on  a  national  basis.  Completed 
on  May  28. 

May  23.  Italian  declaration  of  war  handed  by  Italian  Am- 
bassador to  Burian. 

May  25.  Von  Biilow  and  Macchio  (Austro-Hungarian  Am- 
bassador) leave  Rome.  Also  Von  Miihlberg  (German 
Minister  to  the  Vatican)  and  Von  Schonburg-Harten- 
stein  (Austro-Hungarian  Ambassador  to  Vatican). 

May  26.        Italian  Ambassador  at  Berlin  (Bellati)  leaves. 

Kaiserin  at  Berlin  visits  the  Orangerie-Lazarett  and 
spends  over  an  hour  with  the  wounded. 

Prince  and  Princess  von  Biilow  arrive  in  Berlin  at 
9.05  A.M.  (Anhalter  Bahnhof)  with  some  one  hundred 
and  twenty  persons. 

Herr  von  Miihlberg  had  accompanied  Prince  von 
Biilow  as  far  as  Lugano. 

May  28.  Chancellor  makes  statement  in  Reichstag  on  Italian 
defection. 

June  28.       Dr.  Dernburg  back  in  Berlin. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


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